Amateurs At War
by natalie.ana
Summary: None of them could have predicted the ending but then again, none of them had thought it would start out the way it had. They were kids fighting in a war but somewhere along the line, they realised they wouldn't have it any other way.
1. Prologue: The Bucket List

"Oi, Evans!" he called out and Lily stopped, pausing a moment before turning around in a sharp motion, her school robes whipping around her and her scarf unravelling. James liked to think she took a moment to pause to compose herself and of course, he was right. At the mere sound of his voice a smile had creeped onto her face — not that Lily would ever tell James that, he's ego was already far too big and she had no intentions of making it bigger.

"That's no way to greet a lady, Potter," she told him as he came up to her. The closer he got the more he marvelled at her, the way her arms hugged her books across her chest, the way she held her head up high. Lily Evans beauty wasn't just in the fact that she was beautiful, it was in the way she carried herself, James decided. Confident yet approachable. It was a nice characteristic to have and it suited Evans to the tee.

James shrugged, "What do I know about ladies?"

"Hmm, maybe we should ask your hoard of girlfriends?"

"Maybe, but maybe I wouldn't have a hoard of _ex_ -girlfriends if I knew something about ladies."

Lily considered this for a moment, her eyes gazing up slightly in thought. "I suppose you have a point. Any particular reason why you're bothering me, Potter?"

"Not really, just needed an excuse to see your pretty face." Lily scoffed. "You're quite charming, Evans." Lily rolled her eyes and James grinned because under all that dismissiveness, Lily Evans had a small smile on her lips and it was quite unmistakeable. "Hmm, I can cross that off the bucket list."

"Cross what off?" Lily asked.

"Making you smile."

Lily seemed taken back by his response and perhaps a little overwhelmed by the way he was looking at her because they weren't supposed to like each other let alone fancy each other and James knew that. Any chance he had with Lily Evans he'd surely blown last year and looking back he could admit he was a prat. No excuses, he was a bully and he was working on it but the more he got better at it, the less amount of time Lily spent sending scathing looks his way which made James notice just how pretty she was, reinforcing his fourth year crush on her. So he'd started flirting with her. She'd started flirting back.

"Potter, what are you doing?" Lily questioned suspiciously, she took an unconscious step back but he'd noticed and took a step towards her so the same distance remained between them. He liked being close to her — she smelled like the beach and coconuts. It could be the middle of winter in the worst snow storm and she'd still smell like the beach. James loved it.

"Talking," James informed her, "It's what people do, Evans."

"People who like each other, Potter. We do not like each other." Not true and she knew it.

"I'm wounded, Evans and I believe you're mistaken. I like you rather much to be frank."

"You know, I've never understood that phrase. 'To be frank' it means to be honest. But why is Frank honest? Why wasn't it Bill or Daisy."

"To be daisy?"

Lily laughed and James would never forget how it sounded and he could cross another item off his bucket list. He made Lily Evans laugh. "See?! What's so bad about a phrase that makes you laugh as you say it?" Lily asked, still giggling.

James chuckled with her, "You are something else, Lily Evans." He took another step towards her and Lily froze but she didn't move away and she looked at him, her eyes darting to each of his eyes like she was playing spot the difference.

"What are you doing, Evans?" he chuckled and she frowned.

"I never know which eye I'm supposed to look at," she admitted and before James knew it, he could cross another item off his bucket list because he was kissing Lily Evans for the very first time. Her lips were soft and tasted like mangos and though the kiss only lasted two seconds before she pulled away, it was the best two seconds of his life.

"What are you doing?" Lily breathed, their faces inches apart, James could still smell her mango chapstick.

"Crossing items off my bucket list."

"You kissed me!"

"Rather perceptive of you."

Lily pushed him but he remained in his position, his face an inch from hers, "Sod off, Potter. _You kissed me_!"

James was weary now, "Are you going to hex me now?"

"Considering it."

Her cheeks were blushed and James couldn't tell if it was the good flustered kind of blush or the on-my-way-to-tomato-red-because-if-you-don't-start-running-your-life-will-be-unexpectedly-short kind of blush. He decided to take his chances. He'd already gotten this far. He looked around the deserted corridor.

"So how about we take this into a broom closet and have an angry snog?"

"Romantic."

"Angry snogs are the best kind, after all," James shrugged, "And I rather think you're inclined to snog me."

"And why would you think that?"

"Because I can still feel your breath on my face."

"I just got out of a really messy relationship," Lily started and James rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, Tobias Knighton is the most dim witted Ravenclaw I've ever met and you dated him for like five minutes."

"Keeping tabs, Potter."

"You still haven't moved." Indeed, Lily and James' faces were still a mere inch apart and Lily didn't quite know why she hadn't done the sane thing and hexed Potter.

"Because you didn't let me finish," she replied.

"So what are you waiting for?"

"I just got out of a really messy relationship. I don't know if you heard but Tobias, he - well he cheated on me" - "Like I said — dimwitted" - "With Sara Bones" - "You're just further proving my point" - "And—"

"No strings. Just snogging," James said and Lily leaned back, blinking in surprise.

"What?"

"Well, I just recently got away from Polly Piggens—"

"Nice way of putting it, Potter. You two dated for like six months."

"Keeping tabs, are we?"

"Please," Lily scoffed. "I've better things to do with my time than keep track of your love life."

"Can we get back to the point?"

"Which was?"

"Snogging, maybe or maybe not on a regular basis, with no strings attached and no one has to know."

"What on earth makes you think I'll agree to that, Potter?"

"Because you still haven't taken a step back."

"Yes, well I'm cold and your breath is warm."

James arched an eyebrow, "Really, Evans? My breath is warm? Weak."

"Oh sodding hell. Fine!"

"What?"

"Fine! But you have to swear that you don't fancy me in any way! And - and that you're not going to ask me out! You've had a rather nice streak this year."

"I have, haven't I? And like I would go out with Polly if I still fancied you!" James retorted and Lily looked at him incredulously.

"You asked me out when you were still seeing Andrea Plunkett — Merlin, she hates me now. Tried to sabotage my Draught of Living Death the other week, she did."

"Okay but it was fourth year and I was a prat back then! And bloody hell she's mental if she's still not over it. I say I dodged a curse there."

"Of course you did and I mean literally," Lily agreed, "She hexed Matthew Gale last week — apparently he'd started a bet that her and Flint wouldn't last. I saw Gale in the common room just after, had mean bruises all over his arms and legs."

"See? Crazy! Bruises aren't even that embarrassing! If you're going to hex someone, at least make it a laugh. Give them something interesting like tentacles or Medusa hair or encase their head in a pumpkin."

Lily chuckled and shook her head and perhaps because he was incredibly fit or because his ego had come down a notch or two in the past year or perhaps she simply wanted to have someone to snog without the complication of a relationship. They could be mates who snogged occasionally.

"No strings?" Lily asked.

"No strings." James looked at her, a smirk in his eyes.

"All right, let's do it. But Potter I swear if I even get a hint that you have feelings for me, I am dropping your arse faster than you can say hippogriff. Now, lead the way."

"What?" he stuttered hoarsely and in response Lily rolled her eyes and used one hand to grab a handful of his robes, pulling his face down to hers and she planted a kiss on his lips.

"Lead the damn way."

"We - we have Herbology," James stammered.

"And we're already rather late for it, might as well make it worthwhile … unless you'd rather go to Herbology than snog me in a broom closet?"

James kissed Lily again and she grinned into the kiss because no matter what society's rules told her she should be doing, ahem not snogging James Potter, it felt too good. "That's what I thought."

"Where is Lily Evans and what have you done with her?" James accused and Lily smirked, pressing her lips to his again as they stumbled towards the nearest broom closet.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hi, this is a Marauder era fic (obviously). I wrote it quite a while back and it is quite long, so if you enjoy long fics, this is for you. I've already got around 400,000 words and it's not even finished. I'll keep posting chapters if it gets views :)

-Natalie xx


	2. Chapter 1: Troubled Minds

Lily Evans wandered down the street, a gold pin that read Head Girl in her fingers and her emerald eyes studying it. She had so many questions; who would Head Boy be? What new duties would this role entail? Would she be able to cope with her classes and her new duties? What if Head Boy was Snape? She wouldn't be able to handle working so closely with him. She thought she would have been elated at becoming Head Girl but Lily wasn't much sure of anything anymore. A world she had thought could do no wrong was perhaps just as cruel and mean as the world she was born into. She had decided long ago that human was human. No matter if you were witch, wizard or muggle, you were still human and the simple fact about humans, they were all flawed, every single one of them. Lily had yet to meet a person who wasn't.

Her mother had been prying at her for weeks. Lily had been moping a lot lately, since her friends didn't visit much because of the war and her sister didn't talk to her, Lily was always left with her thoughts. Usually, Lily would talk with Severus Snape. He had been the one, though shy and shabby with his apprehensive black eyes, long (and admittedly greasy) black hair and long flapping robes, to tell Lily the truth about the world. Magic existed and she possessed it. The closer they had gotten, the further the distance grew between Lily and her sister but at first Lily hadn't minded. She still had Sev who would tell her wonderful tales of magic and would assure her when she was scared or worried, telling her the magical world was the best. But a petty fall out saw to that, though it wasn't petty was it? Lily kicked at the ground. No, she decided, it wasn't. She had tried to help him and he repaid her by calling her the dirtiest slur that could be said to someone like her. So she was left to talk with her mother.

But how could Lily explain everything to her muggle mother, who knew nothing about the wizard world? Her mother simply didn't understand the strain of wizarding exams or the steady trickle of fear the war had been building as the years went by. Her beautiful mother whom only ever wanted the best for Lily, was simply just not enough and Lily did consider writing one of her friends but what would be the point? Lily didn't think she could find the right words to describe how she was feeling and what could her friends possibly say to make her feel better, besides she'd be seeing them soon. The summer was, finally, drawing to a close.

Lily had been too consumed in her own thoughts to realise she was strolling down a street she strictly avoided since her falling out with Severus. The familiar brick terraces lined the street with a battered sign reading _Spinner's End_ on it and Lily stared at the house with the number '49' stuck on the door. It was odd, they'd been friends since the age of ten until the age of sixteen and in those six years, Lily had only ever been in that house a handful of times, which Lily hadn't minded. It was a dusty old place and his parents were always shouting or blatantly ignoring each other, and for that matter, their son and his new companion. Lily had much preferred to hang out at her house where her mum would always have a smile on her face whilst she served them lunch or ice cream. Lily turned abruptly and walked quickly back down the street. She didn't want to risk Severus seeing her.

Halfway down the street, she saw him approaching. He looked neglected as always, with his black hair long and somewhat greasy and his black robes a few sizes too big and Lily felt sorry for him for just a moment. His parents had never allowed him to wear muggle clothes — not even in the boiling summers. She stopped in her tracks and shoved the golden pin in her jean pocket. She didn't want Severus to see an excuse to talk to her.

"Lily!" he called out, apparently an excuse was not needed and Lily wanted to scream. His dark eyes met her vibrant ones and she couldn't pretend she didn't see him. She stayed rooted to the spot the urge to scream expanding. "I've been meaning to talk to you!"

"I've been doing my best to avoid you," Lily said coolly, "So I'll be on my way."

"Lily, wait!"

"I don't want anything to do with you." Lily looked down, not being able to meet his eyes. If she was being honest with herself, she did want a whole lot to do with Severus but he ruined it. He had betrayed her and there was no going back. Lily couldn't be friends with someone who so obviously despised her own existence. He'd turned on her when he had promised he never would and Lily couldn't move on from that.

"Li-" he started to say but she shoved past him and ran the entire way home. Everything had come so far from the beginning.

In the beginning Severus told her she was a witch, her only window into the world she belonged to but he left out the bit that ruined their friendship; the war, blood purity and more importantly the side he was on. Perhaps if she'd known his true colours, she'd have distanced herself, wouldn't have gotten so close with him. When Marlene Adams, Lily's best friend, had told Lily of the oncoming war she never would've imagined Severus would be so ready to join the wrong side, the side of Voldemort. She had never imagined the war would be still raging on after eight long years filled with terror.

Lord Voldemort had been the epitome of fear for the last seven years and in Lily's opinion, he was completely and utterly deranged yet somehow people — more specifically pure-bloods — agreed with him and joined his attempt to eradicate the magical world of people like Lily. People like Lily, were no different from any other witch or wizard. They had the same capabilities, the same magic but yet they were against people like Lily simply because their parents and families were not magical. They thought themselves better because they had magical ancestors yet that hadn't stopped Lily from beating Severus in the O. , not that they had been friends so she could tell him. And so the war raged between the pure-bloods and the muggle-borns and anyone who disagreed with Voldemort's logic but as time passed, his crimes became more horrific — just last week his followers, known as Death Eaters, imperiused a muggle-born man and forced him to kill his blood-traitor wife and three children. People were scared to speak up as those brave enough to publicly fight Voldemort, had been attacked and more often than not, killed. Patricia Bones was a prime example. For years she had run a political campaign against Voldemort's and she'd been attacked no less than twenty-seven times by Death Eaters before Voldemort killed her himself in the middle of the Ministry of Magic. It had been front page of the Daily Prophet for two weeks.

"Lily! Doctor Who's on!" her mother said enthusiastically, peeking her head out of the kitchen door and true to her word, Lily could hear the sound of the Doctor saving the day again. Doctor Who had been Lily's favourite as a child but that was of course pre-wizard knowledge and her mother frowned at Lily's shrug at the mention of the show. Lily shut the front door behind her and looked down the hallway. The house hadn't changed since she could remember.

Her house was of a moderate size with a door leading to the living room on the left, a door leading to the kitchen at the end of the hallway, and stairs on the right that led to three bedrooms and a bathroom just big enough for a toilet, basin and bath tub. The house had always had cream walls with delicate crownings on the ceiling, which Lily always loved to look at and the living room had a pretty, crystal chandelier. The floors had always been a light grey carpet with vinyl flooring in the kitchen.

"What's wrong, my little witch?" Lily's mother looked down at Lily as she slid onto a chair and slumped her head on to her hands, elbows resting on the table.

Lily's mother, Rosie Evans, was young for a mother. She had Petunia when she was only twenty and then Lily two years later at the young age of twenty-two. Lily could never imagine being a mother so soon. For Lily, the age of twenty was a mere three years away. Lily looked at her mother and had no doubt that if her mother had been a witch and attended Hogwarts she would have been sorted into the Gryffindor house, which prized bravery, like Lily. Lily had many of her looks from her mother. The same dark red hair, almond, green eyes and plump lips. Lily's nose was a slightly different shape, perhaps a fraction or two wider but Rosie had always thought it suited Lily's face perfectly.

"I'm just stressed, mum. Things haven't been so great, you know, over on my side."

"Want to talk about it?"

"You wouldn't understand." Lily shook her head.

"Try me."

Lily grappled to find an excuse to avoid telling her mother about what was bothering her but came up empty and she sighed before starting.

"It's just school and the movement and it's just everything, mum. I'm trying so hard to get outstanding grades so I can get into the ministry in who knows what department but chances are I won't even be able to get a job in the ministry. Things are all so shaky. No one knows who to trust and everyone is scared mum, so, so scared."

"What's this movement even about?" Rosie asks and Lily shoulders slump. Lily had found out the finer details of the war a few years ago but she hadn't wanted to trouble her parents with its details. Instead of calling it a war, Lily had come up with 'movement' when explaining it to her parents. She didn't want them to be completely oblivious but she hadn't wanted to worry them too much.

"Well Voldemort, he is a very, very dark wizard. He's as bad as a wizard can get and he is convinced that the magic community should be strictly pure-bloods."

"Pure-bloods?" Rosie asked. Lily sighed, how many times had she explained this to her parents? It just never sunk in. They weren't a part of her world.

"Pure-bloods are wizards or witches who have magic running through their entire ancestry. Of course, most witches and wizards now are half bloods so Voldemort is only really targeting muggle-borns."

"Muggle-born?" Rosie said sharply. "But you are muggle-born!"

"I'm fine mum. It's just a silly little movement. You know a couple of protests at the Ministry – our equivalent to the Parliament house."

"Is Hogwarts safe?"

"Albus Dumbledore is there," Lily said, which was all that really needed to be said. Albus Dumbledore with his silvery beard and hair and his peculiar fashion choices ranging from baby blue robes to robes with so many bright colours that it sometimes hurt to look at him. He was the Headmaster at Hogwarts and, besides his peculiarities, the wisest wizard known to the magical world. In fact, when the public called for Minister Eugenia Jenkins to step down, Professor Dumbledore had been favoured to become the next Minister For Magic. The only problem was that Professor Dumbledore was perfectly content at running Hogwarts and refused the job and so Harold Minchum got the job. Though he didn't seem to be doing any better at thwarting Voldemort than Jenkins was. The only thing he'd done was put more Dementors in Azkaban to guard the prison but that hadn't stopped the mass break-out at the beginning of the summer, where seven known Death Eaters escaped before vanishing into thin air like smoke.

"You'd tell me, if it wasn't safe anymore, right?" her mum looked at Lily with an expectant, raised eyebrow and Lily nodded. "Good, because if it's not safe, you won't be going back."

"I'm of age mum," Lily said wearily, "I don't need your permission anymore."

Lily pulled her wand out of her jacket pocket and started levitating a pencil that was left on the table in a way to prove that she was over age, as only of age wizards could perform magic outside of Hogwarts. Rosie always found it odd that wizards and witches became of age at only seventeen.

"Your sister is in the house," Rosie pursed her lips but Lily didn't stop levitating the pencil, the wonderful thing about magic, it calmed Lily like nothing else could, which was ironic considering magic could scientifically not be explained. But there was something calming in thinking the magic words and for an object to obey her thoughts.

—

The first of September loomed closer, a mere ten days away, and Lily still hadn't been to Diagon Alley to buy the necessary school equipment that was listed in the letter she had received along with the Head Girl Pin. When Lily had expressed this to her parents they frowned.

"Why don't you go with Petunia? You girls have barely spoken at all these holidays," her father suggested as though he did not know that Petunia thought of Lily and people like her as freaks.

"Petunia won't be able to get in," Lily lied, "Only magic people can see the entrance. Besides Petunia wouldn't want to come. She's too busy with Vernon."

Vernon Dursley was a squishy, fat man with a head, which sat cushioned on shoulders instead of up high on a neck. Petunia's is absolutely taken by his, Lily supposed, ordinariness but Lily could not find a single interesting aspect about Vernon Dursley and he didn't like the word imagination. Lily had let slip about a story of the Giant Squid, which roamed Hogwarts lake, at the dinner table once, forgetting that Dursley did not know about Lily's abilities. Petunia had silenced Lily with a severe look and Lily laughed it off and said it was just a legend, a myth. Dursley puffed and lectured them for seven minutes and thirty-three seconds on how myths and legends were nonsense and completely unprecedented, which Lily found ironic because the only thing older than time, were the legends that ran with them so how could it be unprecedented?

"Liar," her mother called Lily out before sighing, "You girls were so close before. What happened?" It wouldn't be the summer holidays if Rosie hadn't asked Lily that at least once.

Lily refrained from rolling her eyes. Lily's mum knew exactly what had happened. A witch, Professor Ollivander, in pretty navy blue robes had knocked on their door seven years ago and informed the family that magic existed, Lily was a witch, and was eligible to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her parents had been slow to come around but Lily was ecstatic because the odd boy she'd befriended was right. She had magic and the world wasn't what it seemed and she'd get to live in a big, old and _magical_ castle. But Petunia, was not so thrilled. Professor Ollivander had escorted them all to Diagon Alley so Lily could purchase her school things and Petunia had been a drain on the whole day. She skulked, her hands crossed the entire time, barely talking and refusing to look at anything Lily had tried to show her.

"But maybe if she understood more about what you are she wouldn't hate it so much."

"Convenient how she never listens to anything I have to say about Hogwarts and magic then, isn't it?"

"Well you aren't going on your own!" her mother huffed. "Not with bloody, lunatic wizards and Death Keepers-" "Eaters" Lily corrected, "Roaming around and your mum told me what the movement was about! I can't believe you kept that from us! You said you weren't in danger!"

Lily sighed. Her mum over reacted to realities of life, always shaking her head about how the world was a dangerous place. She'd rather hide away from the dangers instead of learning how to survive amongst them. It's why Lily hadn't told them years ago when she had first learnt about the war. But, the Daily Prophet had written about a massacre of twelve muggles in a church, Lily couldn't hide the complete truth from them anymore. Not when something as simple as attending Sunday Mass could get them killed.

"It's nothing," Lily tried to sedate her parents, "As long as I'm at Hogwarts and as long as Dumbledore is around Voldy isn't going to get far in his," Lily paused, "Movement."

Despite her parents protests, Lily apparated into the Leaky Cauldron the next day, promising that she was meeting up with friends. Tom, the owner's son of the old, dingy pub, waved and smiled at Lily in welcome as he wiped down the counter. Tom had been two years above Lily's class in Hogwarts. Lily smiled and said "Hello," back and they started a quick conversation about Voldemort's latest attack before Lily heard her name being called.

"Lily!" someone called out and Lily strained her neck to see over and around people and found Marlene and Ella. They were sitting at a table each holding a bottle of Butterbeer. Ella wore her chocolate hair short in a bob, her fringe pushed to the side and her blue eyes were dazzling. They were the first thing anyone noticed about Ella Dearborn, her eyes were as bright and promising as the sky. Lily excused herself from Tom and walked over to the table, taking a seat. She smiled at Lily and started talking about this new witch singer Ariana Merda. Marlene rolled her eyes and swirled a finger around her temple indicating that Ella had gone crazy. Lily stifled a giggle and suggested they get started.

"I wonder who got Head Boy," Lily wondered aloud, "I hope it's someone nice, like Remus or even Putley or Fortescue."

"Do you reckon we'll run into Fortescue today? Doesn't he usually work at his dad's ice cream shop in the holidays?" Marlene asked, gathering her long blonde hair and contained it in a fluro pink scrunchie so it sat on top of her head in a messy bun.

"I don't think it can be Remus, Lily," Ella said ignoring Marlene. "He misses too much school at random times. How many times has he left to visit his mother?"

Lily sighed glumly as they walked into the Apothecary. Remus Lupin was Lily's fellow Gryffindor Prefect but his mother was incredibly ill and he always left, at least once a month to visit his mother. "You're right. He's too unreliable. Putley or Fortescue," Lily said crossing her fingers. She inspected the cauldrons piled up next to the door and grabbed a nicely sized one, James Potter and Sirius Black had melted a hole in hers last year when they asked to borrow her cauldron, of course she vowed to never let them borrow anything of hers ever again but the damage had been done — though Potter did give her five galleons to purchase a new one as he profusely apologised.

Her stomach lurched a little at the thought of James Potter. She hadn't thought much about him all summer but they had left things somewhat awkwardly and with September first looming closer every day, Lily wondered if they could still be friends. She wanted to be his friend. He was a good friend. Excellent kisser too. She couldn't decide if he was a better kisser or friend.

"Nate decided he wants to become an Auror," Marlene told Lily, changing the subject. Nathaniel 'Nate' McKinnon lived in Godric's Hollow and his house happened to be next to one of the several muggle houses left in the town, Marlene's house. Lily threw a small bottle of Dittany in the cauldron.

"I swear that's like the profession of our year!" Ella said indignantly as she inspected different Horned Slugs. "Ask anyone in our year what they want to be and half of them will say 'auror'. It's ridiculous."

"I think I'm going to become a Healer," Marlene announced as Lily grabbed a vile of Doxy Venom and placed it in the new pewter cauldron she had picked up.

Lily gasped in mock horror, "Has Marlene Adams _finally_ chosen what she wants to do?"

"It can't be!" Ella continued in a dramatic voice, "I can hear it though."

"Hear what?" Marlene asked disgruntled.

"The faint whisper, of a miracle," Ella announced her voice low, slow and dramatic. Marlene punched her shoulder lightly. Marlene had been changing her mind about what she wanted to do after Hogwarts every five seconds and every time she had changed her mind came with a long discussion of the pros and cons of her new chosen profession. She had gone from Auror to 'maybe I'll work at Flourish and Blotts, I like books' to working for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to an owl trainer to a potioneer.

"Sod off," Marlene muttered, "Concentrate, I'm being serious. I think I've decided on being a Healer."

"That's great, Marls," Lily smiled genuinely as she grabbed a bag of Porcupine Quills before walking up to the witch in fine, black robes, which fell to the floor like a whisper, and paying for her items.

They left the store after and walked further into Diagon Alley. Lily looked around and took everything in, she came so rarely to Diagon Alley yet it was one of her favourite places on earth other than Hogwarts and home. They passed the Quidditch shop and Ella started talking about how when she went to visit Adaline, she was showing off her new Nimbus '87.

They eventually got to _Flourish and Blotts_ and after thrity minutes of browsing books they were lined up to pay for their stack of new books, that weren't strictly textbooks. Lily had found an interesting memoir of a wizard called Alberto Montgomery who created the potion, Draught of Living Death. Lily read the blurb again as they waited in the line and was rudely interrupted when someone smashed onto Lily and her books went flying, one hitting Ella in the eye.

"Oh! You two!" a woman yelled, a mix between cross and exasperated. "Just because you are of age does not mean you have to shoot spells at everything you see!" The person on top of Lily, quickly got up and dusted himself off before helping Lily up and she rolled her eyes. Sirius Black stood in front of her, a sparkle in his eye as he said, "Sorry, Evans," though he looked too amused for the apology to be sincere. He was tall with his black hair falling elegantly around his face which made his grey, almost blue, eyes pop out against his pale skin. He turned back to the yelling woman, "But life is just so much more fun that way, mum," he grinned and the woman shook her head at him.

"Bloody hell, Black," Lily muttered, rubbing her back where a book had dug into, "Watch where you're going."

Black smiled at her sheepishly as they were joined by none other than James Potter — Lily should've known, where there was one, there was the other — and a tall woman in thin baby yellow robes. The woman was undoubtedly Potter's mother, she had the same hazel eyes and skinny nose.

"I'm so sorry about these two buffoons," she sighed wearily. She waved her wand and all the books swooped up into the air and arranged themselves into a nice stack and the witch caught them in mid air before handing them back to Lily.

"Sorry, Evans," Potter said awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, "Spell was meant to levitate a book but it hit Sirius instead." Lily wanted to raise an eyebrow at his supposed story — not believing that he _accidentally_ hit Black with a levitation spell — but she was trying not to gasp at Potter.

Where did Lily Evans start with James Potter? He was arrogant, egotistical, confident bordering cocky and undeniably fit and she couldn't help but feel awkward around him because he was an excellent kisser and because they were friends … at least she hoped they'd be friends. Lily had always been sure of the first four things (arrogant, egotistical, confident bordering cocky and undeniably fit) but that had started to change during sixth year as Potter had proven less arrogant, egotistical and confident bordering cocky and more undeniably fit … the snogging hadn't helped in her attempts to convince herself he was a terrible person.

Potter and Lily hadn't always had the best relationship. It had started on the day they met on the Hogwarts express, he was a scrawny kid with a mess of black hair — that hadn't changed — and the first thing he had done was give Severus a truly horrible name. _Snivellus_. All because Severus had said he wanted to be in Slytherin, like his mother, which if Lily remembered correctly was the same reason Potter wanted to be in Gryffindor, because his parents had been. Severus had always complicated the relationship between Lily and Potter because the two boys seemed hell bent on hexing each other at every opportunity. It drove Lily mad. So, Lily tended to not talk to Potter if she could help it but after Easter in Sixth Year, that had changed remarkably until on the last day words were said and they hadn't left off on the best of circumstances and, much to Lily's dismay, the kissing had stopped.

But Potter had grown an inch or two over the summer and stubble resided on his jaw not to mention that muggle clothes suited him. He made a pair of black jeans and a white shirt look sexy and Lily had to force herself not to stare at his toned arms. It didn't help that Potter had eyed her up and down and Lily was suddenly very self-conscious over the fact that she'd decided to wear a high-waisted denim skirt and her legs were on display. He licked his lips and Lily had never been one to swoon over James Potter but right now, he was very swooning material and Lily had to fight her instincts. Luckily, she was saved by his mother.

"Do you know each other?" Mrs Potter said brightly.

"Mum," James said, "This is Lily Evans. She's one of the brightest witches in our year. Of course, no one can beat me but she's pretty good too." James winked at Lily who rolled her eyes but a part of her was glad. She had thought that after the way they had left things, he would hate her but apparently not and that warmed Lily considerably.

She was glad he was willing to act civil about things. Just because the snogging had stopped didn't mean they had to stop being friends.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Potter," Lily said with a kind smile and she nudged Ella who seemed disinterested.

"Oh yeah, nice to meet you."

"Oh please, call me Mia! Mrs Potter sounds like my mother-in-law. She was an … interesting witch," Mia said. "Evans? That isn't a wizarding name is it?"

"Oh, mum!" James complained. "Don't start that M.A.E stuff now! We've got to go! Sirius and I want to go look at the new Nimbus!"

"Hush you or else I won't be buying you the new Nimbus," she said waving off James who sulked.

"What's M.A.E?" Lily asked.

"The Magic Against Evil Society," Sirius said quickly. "Mum's been recruiting everyone she's laid eyes on since she started the organisation six months ago. Personally, I think it's a great idea."

"Stop sucking up, Padfoot," James grumbled when Euphemia beamed at Sirius, "She's still not going to buy you firewhiskey."

"But I'm of age," he argued and Euphemia rolled her eyes and muttered "boys" before turning to Lily and Ella with a great, big smile.

"Would you be interested in joining?" Euphemia asked them, "It costs five sickles to join and you get a little badge," James pointed to the silver badge currently pinned to his shirt, "And a monthly newsletter will be delivered to you. Of course once you're out of Hogwarts you can attend the meetings as well but until then you can send any ideas you have via owl and I'll voice them on your behalf at meetings. The name is self explanatory. We are fighting for magic to be used in a more passive way. For magic to help rather than to hurt and cause chaos. We also fight for muggle and muggle-born rights."

"But we already have rights," Marlene chimed in, finally having finished paying. Lily suspected she was flirting with the boy behind the counter.

"Ahh, but You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters are trying to change all of that," Euphemia explained, "They want to be above muggle-borns and muggles. They believe they are superior because they are supposedly 'pure-blood'," Euphemia shuddered, "I hate that word. It's been haunting me my entire life. No pure-blood, in my opinion, is worth any more than any muggle or muggle-born. Anyway, we correspond with the Ministry of Magic and though we legally can't do anything, we can voice to them opinions and advise them. Enough respected families have joined up that the entire organisation is quite respected among the Ministry. We've got the Vance's, Bones' and Shacklebolt's," Euphemia trailed off. "So what do you girls think? Want to join?"

Lily was opening her purse before Euphemia had even finished her question. "Five sickles you said, right?" She asked fishing out the coins.

"You don't have to join," James said frowning slightly and Lily looked at him, perhaps not all was forgiven. They looked at each other for a second and Lily thought he may as well have been burning a whole in her soul as he stared at her so intensely and memories of the two of them sneaking around Hogwarts flittered in Lily's mind before she forced herself to glance down and then Lily said, "I know. But I want too."

After the girls had given Euphemia the money, Euphemia wrote down their names on a piece of parchment that had 'Magic Against Evil' written in cursive writing at the top and was then followed by three columns of names. Euphemia told them that their pins and this month's newsletter would be sent to them during the first week of September.

"Thank you Mrs – Euphemia," Lily said as they parted ways.

"Who knew the woman who raised James Potter was actually really, really nice and exceptionally well mannered?" Marlene asked as they walked out of _Flourish and Blotts_ after Lily and Ella had paid for their books.

"Well, Potter can be nice," Lily said, thinking of the last year of school when Lily and James had been … whatever they were, and then added, "When he wants to be. Where to next?"

They ended up at _Madam Malkin's_ to get new school robes and Lily also bought an emerald cloak for Hogsmeade trips. After Madam Malkin's they visited _Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_ and they did in fact run into Andrew Fortescue. It turned out he hadn't been given the Head Boy badge and Lily returned to fretting over who the badge would be given too until Ella had told her to put a sock in it. Next on their list was owl food and treats so they stopped by _Eeylops Emporium_ and Ella bought a fancy, white and black mouse whom she named Milly. Then they bought new scales, quills and parchment before heading back to the _Leaky Cauldron_.

They sat down at a square table in the corner and their bags littered the floor around the table. They ordered some lunch and three butterbeers before returning to normal conversation.

"Does your family know about the war?" Ella asked Lily.

"My parents think there's a 'movement' but they don't know killings have been happening. Petunia's completely clueless though. Won't hear a thing I have to say about the wizarding world."

Marlene patted Lily's hand comfortingly and said, "Well she's a boring, old hag and you're worth ten of her."

Lily smiled and asked Marlene who also came from a muggle family.

"Well," Marlene said, "My mum is starting to get suspicious and I've had to cancel my subscription to the Daily Prophet because she said that next time I get one, she's going to read it. Not that it's that big of a deal. I just go over to Nate's and read his instead."

"Did you hear about that family last week?" Ella asked and the other two nodded. "Is it just me or do the attacks get more vicious every time?"

"I know, it's outrageous, I mean bloody hell, can't someone do something about it? We've magic for Merlin's sake!"

Lily frowned slightly and then looked at Marlene. "But they've got magic too, Marly and I'm sure they've all done protective spells around their houses and because they don't care about the law they've probably protected their houses with dark magic and don't forget, they also fight with dark magic."

"I know," Ella agreed, "They have to decide whether or not it is ethical to use dark magic against wizards and witches who use dark magic. There was a whole article at the back of the Daily Prophet a couple of weeks ago."

Lily nodded, she too had read the article, and Marlene said, "Well they should. As long as it gets rid of them."

"But it's not that easy," Lily said, she was a little astonished at the naivety her friend was displaying about the whole matter. Didn't she know that the wizards who were supporting Voldemort came from wealthy, pure blood families? Pure blood families who gave funds and donations to magic institutions like St Mungo's Hospital and the Ministry itself. Lily didn't know if the Ministry or the hospital could run without the generous funding. It wasn't just about fighting. It was politics.

"Well it should be! These pure-bloods think they can run the entire magical community based on the fact that they have magical ancestors. It's bloody discriminating and quite frankly prejudiced! Besides how do these stupid pure-bloods think that the first witch or wizard got magic?" Marlene fired up and then huffed, "Stealing magic. What a joke? That's like saying that someone stole someone else's brilliance. It's completely ridiculous! You're either born with it or you're not! Squibs prove that! Look at Filch, two extremely talented wizard and witch parents and nothing. Not even an ounce of magic."

"We never said it was fair. All of the people who have died because of You-Know-Who's cause isn't fair. None of this is fair."

"You're lucky though. Your parents are magical!" Marlene argued, "Mine are muggle and if the Death Eaters come, they won't stand a chance."

"Marlene!" Lily said shocked, "Don't say things like that!"

"Yeah well, it's true."

"I'm sure the McKinnons look after your family just fine," Lily said, reminding Marlene that Marlene's parents lived next to wizards and witches. "And you put up defensive spells right?" Lily asked and Marlene nodded.

"Casting secret spells around our families," Ella muttered, "That's what this world has come to."

The girl's stayed silent and stared at the scratched, wooden table in front of them. When Lily had bought her wand at Ollivander's seven years ago she'd never imagined the world it would come with, the war it would come with. Who can see and have this, this gift and use it for torture and murder? Her innocent eleven year old mind did not see how something so wonderful could create something so bad. But then again God favoured the angel that became the devil.

—

Marlene Adams waited outside her house eagerly. She'd left her trunk by the door, if Mrs Booth saw it she'd harp on about such a heavy thing and Marlene wasn't in the mood for one of Mrs Booth's rants on such an exciting day. September the first was always an exciting day in Marlene's opinion. Marlene looked at her house, taking everything in, she wouldn't see it again until Christmas most likely and it was a ritual. She liked to remember everything from the length of the grass to the withering roses by the mail box to the cat lounging on the hang-over roof on top of the front door.

"Ready, Marly?" Nathaniel McKinnon stepped out of his house, lugging his trunk with him. "Where's your trunk?"

"By the door. Didn't want Mrs Booth to see it," she explained.

"Ah, of course," Nate said.

Marlene Adams had grown up with Nate McKinnon her whole life. Their mothers had been pregnant together and when Mrs Charlotte McKinnon gave birth to Nate in Chudleigh Medical Clinic on July second, Mrs Kate Adams visited with blue balloons and a teddy bear, her own belly ready to pop. Three days later, Charlotte was visiting Kate in the hospital with pink balloons and a teddy bear.

Despite the fact that Charlotte McKinnon was married to a wizard, the two women were best friends and their kids were quick to do the same. Marlene could barely remember a time without Nate McKinnon. He was in every memory she had. Every birthday, Christmas, Easter, New Years. They'd take Mrs Booth's dogs for walks together and they each saw the other's house as home. Charlotte had been the one who picked up on Marlene and her little brother, Henry being a witch and wizard. She was quite delighted though the night she had told Kate the secret, Kate had had several glasses of wine.

"Where's Faith?" Marlene asked. Nate had left his trunk in his front yard and jumped the fence over to Marlene's yard. He leaned against the fence, looking at Marlene's house with her.

"Probably reading another bridal magazine. I swear the house is full of them. Where's Henry?"

"Still packing. I told him to pack last night, do you think he listened?" Marlene scowled. "Can't believe Faith's getting married."

"We're not going to make it for breakfast if those two take much longer," Nate frowned.

Growing up together had formed certain traditions. One of those traditions was lunch at _Fantastic Feasts_ in Diagon Alley before going to Kings Cross station. The tradition had started — for Marlene at least — in 1971, the first year she had gone to Hogwarts. They had all packed into the cars — Nate's family in one, Marlene's in the other — and they'd gone to Diagon Alley where they walked up and down the street in search of a place to eat before settling on _Fantastic Feasts_. They'd eaten and then piled back up into the cars again and made their way to Kings Cross station where they crossed the barrier, Marlene's family, except for Henry, being left outside.

Marlene had been nervous to leave but with one last hug to Charlotte, Marlene got on the train with her best friend and his sister and her foot wouldn't stop jittering as they waited for the train to push off.

Henry pulled the door open. "Marlene, you're trunk is blocking half the door," he complained and Marlene and Nate both pushed off the fence to go help him. Once the two trunks were in the front yard, Faith walked out waving.

"You guys ready?"

"We've been waiting for you, sis," Nate pointed out.

They worked their trunks into the back of Faith's car, using charms to make the boot larger and then they piled into the car.

—

Ella Dearborn hated September first. Don't get her wrong. She loved Hogwarts and she love being at Hogwarts, she just hated _getting_ to Hogwarts. The day was always such a rush to get to the train station by eleven in the morning only to sit on a train for almost eight hours, followed by a twenty minute carriage ride up to the school and then an hour's long ceremony where the firsties were sorted into their houses and then another hour and a half of forced socialising during dinner. Don't get her wrong, she loved her friends but she had a limit and after an eight hour train ride, Ella just wanted to flop onto her bed and sleep. But alas, September first did not allow that. Nope, she had to endure the eight hour train ride and the boring sorting ceremony and the feast despite the fact that all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep once she reached Hogwarts.

"Ella," her mother called, "Did you pack the books you borrowed off of Marlene?"

"Yes, mum!" Ella called back.

"All right, we best be off now, the train is leaving soon!"

Ella checked the time. 10:05am. Ella sighed and closed her trunk, locking it with a spell. She floated her suitcase down the stairs whilst her mother fussed about the house.

"Remember, Ella. This is your N.E.W.T year, everything counts. I know you always do reasonably well in school but just remember to study but don't forget to have some fun, too, you don't want to burn out before the end of the year. Don't do anything reckless and please try to be civil with Alice dear, if I have to hear from Mrs Vance that you threw away her make-up again, I will not be pleased. You know we're already tight on money with your father … anyway, just be good okay. And don't worry about your N.E. too much, you'll be fine."

"Mum, let's go."

"And remember that if you go outside, to bring a cloak. It gets fairly cold at Hogwarts and make sure you give Marlene her books back."

"Mum," Ella whined, "You say the same speech every year. I've got it. Let's go. Where's dad?"

Mrs Dearborn pursed her lips. "He's not coming."

"You mean he's pissed off his face. Lovely."

"Ella," Mrs Dearborn protested.

"No, I'm sick of him drinking and gambling. I thought he'd at least be sober enough to see me off, but I guess not," Ella huffed.

Mrs Dearborn sighed, "Best get going."

—

It was ten a.m. and the Hogwarts Express would be leaving King's Cross Station in exactly an hour. Lily added some last minute items into her trunk as her dad came into her room. He looked around at the emptied closet and bare desk before sitting on her purple bed. He looked at Lily's moving photos of her and her friends at Hogwarts. There was one in particular that Lily loved. The girls - Marlene, Ella, Lily, Alice Vance and Adaline Bennett – had been in their dormitory. It was the first night back at Hogwarts in their fourth year and they had made a pact to stay up the entire night. Of course none of them lasted, they all fell asleep before four thirty a.m. but they were extraordinarily tired for classes the next day. They had been wearing their pyjamas and Alice's bed was filled of lollies, muggle and wizard kinds. In the photo, Lily was laughing as Marlene ripped a snake lolly in half and Ella and Adaline had looks of disgust on their faces (They had tried Bertie's Beans of Every Flavour) and Alice had her arm swung around Lily's neck and was making a funny face, her eyebrows raised and her tongue poking out. It had been a memorable night.

"I can't believe you're leaving already, kiddo."

Lily smiled at her dad and went to sit next to him. "I'll be back for Christmas," Lily promised.

"How can I wait a whole four months to see my Lily Flower?" her dad demanded and Lily laughed.

"I'll write three times a week, I promise. I'll send so much mail that you'll be sick of my letters."

"Not possible," her dad said and Lily leaned her head on his shoulder. Her dad was a stocky man. A career in a factory would do that to a bloke and he always had some sort of grease or dirt under his nails. "I just need you to promise me that you'll be careful. This movement, it's got your mother and me quite worried especially because we don't understand it."

"I know, dad," Lily sighed staring at her wall, "But you've nothing to worry about. The security around Hogwarts has been tightened so much even though Dumbledore is there. Plus I've been practising how to stun people."

"Stun people?"

"You don't want to know," Lily assured her dad. They sat in quiet for a minute or two and then Lily spoke again. "Do you think Tuney hates me?"

"Of course she doesn't," her dad denied immediately. "She just doesn't like what she doesn't understand and she doesn't understand you."

Lily felt like arguing that if Petunia didn't like what Lily was then by default Petunia hated her but she didn't have the energy to care anymore. Lily had heard Petunia call her school a freak show for circus clowns so many times that Lily had given up hope that Petunia would one day understand years ago.

"Five bucks says your mother will cry when you leave," her dad said and Lily laughed.

"You're on."

"And Lily, remember not to tell your mother."

A lump formed in Lily's throat and she couldn't bring herself to agree so she just nodded instead.


	3. Chapter 2: Head Boy

Marlene, Henry and Nate stepped through the barrier one after the other and Marlene grinned.

"This is the last time we'll ever be going to Hogwarts." She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"That sounds depressing," Nate frowned.

"It's not," she assured him. "Oh … well, maybe a little. But after this our lives can begin! It's all so exciting."

"You don't even know what you want to do after Hogwarts."

"I told you I want to be a healer."

"Marly, you change your mind every three months so once you want to be a healer for more than three months, I've decided that your undecided."

"Yeah, well, what do you want to be? Hmmm?"

"Let's go put our trunks on the train."

"Ha! That's what I thought," she sung and Nate laughed. They started moving towards the train, Marlene keeping her eye out for her other friends but the only people she saw worth speaking to were Black and Potter and even they didn't interest her much. They stood near the front of the train with Mrs Potter who was talking with Mr and Mrs Flawley. Everyone knew that Nicolea Flawley and James Potter were cousins but Marlene had never considered them close — they hardly hung out together.

"Back of the train?" he asked.

"Always," Marlene confirmed and they redirected their trolleys to the end but something irked her. Black headed to the end of the train whilst Potter got into a compartment at the front. "Why's Potter getting on at the front?"

"Weird," Nat agreed. "Come on, I think I see Ella."

Marlene spotted Ella as well. She was using her wand to float her trunk onto the last compartment and Marlene shouted, "Ella!" She looked up and smiled.

"My mum has been pestering me to give you your books back," Ella said coming up to them.

"So that means I won't be getting them back until next summer. Lovely."

"Can't pass up the opportunity to piss her off," Ella shrugged. "Hey, Nate."

"Hey, Ella. How've you been?"

"I'd be better if I weren't about to spend eight hours on a train," Ella smiled.

Nate shrugged. "Fair enough." He flicked his wrist and his trunk floated up into the compartment overhead.

"Show off," Ella muttered.

"He's been practising all summer," Marlene complained. " _Locomotor trunk_ ," she flicked her own wand and floated her trunk into the overhead compartment next to Nate's trunk. "Have you seen Della or Alice yet?"

"Nope. I've been to busy getting my mum to leave me alone." Ella hopped onto the train and Marlene followed.

"You coming, Nate?"

"I'm going to go find Joey and Victor. I'll catch up with you later," he said with a wave he turned to walk away, "Oh, hey Della!"

"Hi Nate."

"Well, see you."

Adaline tugged her trunk into the compartment. Adaline Bennett was a strong girl with long brown hair that she usually wore down in tumbling curls and Marlene zeroed in on a shiny new watch on her wrist.

"Pretty watch!" she exclaimed, grabbing Adaline's hand to get a better look at it. "Where's Alice?"

"Hello to you too, Marly," Adaline snorted. "And thanks my brother sent it from New York as a back to school present and Alice is busy sucking face with Longbottom. They look like she's going to war."

"First year apart," Ella noted.

"Poor them," Marlene sighed.

"Oh boo hoo, they can still write," Ella waved off.

"Oh come on, how would you feel if you didn't get to see Tommy every day?" Della asked.

"I wouldn't mind so much considering I broke up with him a month ago."

"Wait! What?" Marlene exclaimed, turning in her seat to face Ella. "You didn't mention anything!"

"It's not a big deal. He was a good shag but during the summer I didn't see him much so I cut him loose," Ella shrugged. "No biggie."

"You were with him for a year-" "Nine months" "How is it not a big deal?"

Ella shrugged when Alice stepped into the compartment her lips a little swollen.

"How's Frank?" Adaline smirked.

"Shut it, Della," Alice sighed flopping down next to her. "Hello everyone."

"Do we get a ten minute snog as well or is that only reserved for men?"

Alice rolled her eyes, "I was glad to be back for all of three seconds. Thanks, Ella."

"You know," Ella continued, "I'm surprised, the train doesn't leave for another five minutes. You could've gotten another four minutes of snogging time."

Alice rolled her eyes again.

"How is Frank?" Marlene asked.

"He's great. He's training under Moody in the Auror Office so it's tough, he had to get back now."

"Ah, that's why you graced us with your presence so early," Ella commented and Adaline stifled a giggle. Alice glared at them and Adaline pulled on a straight face, "I was not laughing."

"You were," Ella countered. "Just face it, Della. I am too funny for this planet."

"Maybe we should try sending you to Mars then."

"I read an article about that over the summer!" Marlene exclaimed and the three girls groaned as Marlene went off a tangent explaining all the problems with space travel and how she'd love to one day go to a different planet and that maybe she should work in the Department of Mysteries because apparently they deal with that sort of stuff.

—

The Hogwarts Express spewed white steam around the platform and the sounds of owls hooting, cats meowing and people chattering filled Lily's ears. She had left her parents at the barrier after promising to write to them every week. Petunia hadn't come to say goodbye not that it particularly shocked Lily. Petunia hadn't come to the station to bid Lily goodbye in three years. She always came up with an excuse; a friend's party, school work or plans with friends. This year, Petunia had been 'working' according to Lily's mother.

Pushing her trolley through the crowd, she set about finding Marlene, Adaline, Alice or Ella. The snowy owl, Beedle, in the large circular cage perched on top of Lily's trunk, peered at Lily with its beady black eyes as Lily shoved through the crowd searching for familiar faces.

Lily was too focused on finding her friends instead of where she was going that she walked straight into another person's trolley. Beedle flapped his wings and Lily apologised to the bird quickly, using a hand to steady the cage before looking up to see what she had smashed into.

"Watch where you're going, Mudblood!" a Slytherin by the name of Alvena Aitken spat. She was a petite girl with blonde hair pushed back by a green headband, her hair straighter than a pin and pale blue eyes. Her hand was holding her wand and Lily eyed it cautiously. Alvena may be small but everyone knew she and her wretched twin were quick to throw curses about.

"Wouldn't want to scratch the superior pure-blood, would we?" Lily said coolly before taking hold of her trolley and walking away.

Not being able to find her friends and with the train getting ready to depart in less than ten minutes, she headed to the front of the train where the two prefect compartments were and started loading her trunk onto the train. Her trunk provided a little tricky to carry so she murmured " _Locomotor trunk_ ," whilst she tapped the trunk with her wand. Effectively the trunk hovered and she floated it onto the train next to Beedle's cage.

"Neat, Evans," a voice said behind her but this time she recognised it.

"Potter," she greeted turning around and surprised by his presence. Usually he stayed down the back of the train where Prefects hardly patrolled. She couldn't fault him for that because her friends tended to hang out at the back of the train as well. Over the years, it had become a competition to see who could score the very last compartment — the Marauders usually won. Lily suspected they charmed the compartment door to open for only them. "What're you doing down this end of the train? Aren't you meant to be causing havoc down the end with the other three?"

"Nice to see you still have a sharp tongue," Potter noted and Lily rolled her eyes. "We've got to sort out the patrol schedule, don't we?"

"Why – You got Head Boy?" Lily asked catching on quickly though barely masking her surprise. Out of all her worries over who Head Boy would be, James Potter being one of the options had never even crossed her mind. She couldn't imagine why Dumbledore had thought Potter a viable candidate, she clearly remembered the time him and his gang of friends made clouds of rain follow any student they hadn't liked – mainly Slytherins, but still. James nodded and said, "Don't look too disappointed, Evans." Lily had to strain her face into a smile but she was sure she still looked like a stunned pixie.

"Sirius thinks we'll be able to get away with even more stuff now," James said causing Lily to frown, which fixed her problem of looking like a stunned pixie.

"Look, if I catch you and your friends abusing your position, I'm reporting you to McGonagall."

"Take a calming potions, Evans, we haven't even got on the train."

"I'm just saying."

"Duly noted."

"Prongs!" shouted Sirius Black — where there was one, there was the other. Lily learnt that to be a general rule over the years. James ran a hand through his hair and Lily took pleasure in watching as his arms flexed and then admired the way his messy hair fell on his head. Lily doubted that Potter had ever even attempted to tame his hair which was ironic considering his father was world famous for Sleakeazy's Hair Potion, he clearly invented it when he realised his son had the messiest hair to ever exist. But Lily knew the way his hair felt in her hand and Merlin, did she want to run her hand through it now. Why was she even thinking about Potter's hair so much? She was over him — in fact, she had never been into him — and over everything that transpired between them last year, whatever that was. It was two months of sneaking around and, Lily admitted, good times, but it was nothing. Something less than a fling. Lily hadn't even told her friends because Potter and her had agreed to keep it between the two of them. It was more fun that way. Sirius Black didn't even know which was amazing considering the rule.

"Moony and Wormtail don't believe you've got the badge. Of course, I only believed you because I opened your letter but they think you've had a summer fling with Helena Bonham, of all people, and that you're sitting with her for the train ride."

"What'd you tell them?" James asked looking skeptical, his eyebrow raised. Lily looked away. Potter had ever right to snog who ever he wanted. It shouldn't sting that he'd hooked up with another girl over the summer.

"I told them that I caught you guys snogging three times over the summer."

"Padfoot, for a dog you aren't very loyal."

Lily's eyebrows drew together in momentary confusion as James and Sirius shared a knowing smile and Sirius said, "Don't stress over it, Evans. Prongs is just being a deer."

James rolled his eyes, but chuckled and said, "That was a good one, Padfoot."

Lily thought they they should go to St Mungo's to fix their brains from laughing at jokes that weren't remotely funny because clearly they'd lost their minds. Giving them a disdainful glance she hopped onto the train as the whistle bellowed and all the students said the last goodbyes to their parents and ran onto the train.

"Oh and Evans! We got the last compartment again!" Sirius shouted at her.

"Get on the train, Black, before it leaves without you!"

Lily settled herself into the prefects' compartment and watched through the window as Euphemia Potter, her hair tied up in a low bun and her navy blue robes skimming the floor, kissed and hugged James good bye. Lily's eyes widened in surprise for a moment as she watched Euphemia go through the same ritual with Sirius, looking at him as though he were her own son.

They left Euphemia and Lily didn't want to look like she'd been watching and pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment from her trunk and wrote the title 'Prefect Schedule' and underlined it three times. She had just finished the last line when James entered the compartment and sat opposite Lily.

Lily glanced at him for a moment and then froze for a moment. The last time they'd been alone ran through her head like a video on replay and she wasn't sure how he was going to act around her. She focused on her list, drawing up a table and then adding Week One to the top. But James tapped his fingers against the table lightly as though demanding to be noticed and how could Lily not notice him? He was sitting right there with his perfect hair and eyes and mouth and body and was it really so bad that she just wanted to kiss him like she use to?

Noticing Lily's list, he asked, "Who are the new prefects anyways?"

Lily glad for something to talk about said, "I heard that Gryffindor fifth year prefects are Illia Drake and Logan Cammos. Apparently Slytherin fifth year prefects are Victoria de Vaux and Draco Zabini. Ravenclaw are Peter Fell and Marie Love. Hufflepuff are Lisa White and Joseph Duke."

"Zabini? You mean that little twit that tried, and failed, to turn Peter's robes pink?"

"Yep."

Lily breathed out in relief. She'd managed a civil conversation with him. Maybe him snogging Bonham had made him get over her and Lily was glad for it. She liked it when they could just talk. Of course, they never could manage long without arguing.

The rest of the prefects started to file into the carriage and sat around the large table. Lily purposely avoided Snape's eye as she felt his eyes on her and she noticed James' scowl as Snape took a seat with the rest of the Slytherins. The train was going full speed by the time Lily and James were ready to start the meeting.

"Hello everyone," Lily greeted, "Welcome back, I guess. James and I are the Heads this year and as you all know as prefects we are the leaders of the school. You all set the standards and we expect you to hold up those standards. Fifth and Sixth year prefects, you are allowed to reprimand students for bad conduct, you are allowed to confiscate banned items, you are _not_ allowed to dock points from houses!" Lily stressed. "Seventh year prefects _only_ are allowed to dock points but you must fill out appropriate documentation and it must be approved by a Head of House. You are all only allowed to leave your common rooms after curfew _if_ and _when_ you have a patrol. Once your patrol finishes you must get back to your common rooms within ten minutes. On patrol you and the person you are patrolling with must stick together. I cannot emphasise that enough. You must attend all prefect meetings. You are not allowed to abuse your power and if Potter and I catch anyone mistreating their power we will report you to your Head of House. Your status as a prefect is a responsibility not a privilege. I cannot make it anymore obvious. Potter and I will have a list of do's and don't's pinned up in the Head's Office. Does anyone have any questions?"

A small boy with tousled brown hair and a crooked nose out his hand up.

"When do the patrol schedules come out?"

"The patrol schedules will come out weekly. Potter and I will post them on the notice board in front of the Head Boy and Girl office. You'll notice that the prefect bathroom is directly opposite. If you know that you will not be able to patrol on certain nights or would prefer to patrol on certain nights, I will leave a book in the office. The book has all the dates of the year written in, all you have to do is find the date you are looking for, write your name and if you can or can't patrol on that night. If your name is not written under a date, I will assume you are free to work. Once the schedule is out we will not be making alterations."

"As for the schedule on the train," James butted in, pulling a piece of parchment out, "It will go as follows: Ravenclaw prefects are to patrol for the first two hours. Slytherin will start their patrol at one o'clock followed by Hufflepuff at three o'clock and Gryffindor will take the last patrol at five until the end of the trip."

Lily was startled at his sudden organisation of the train schedule. He'd been silent since the beginning of the meeting but then again she hadn't really given him a chance to talk.

"Any other questions?" Lily asked, happy with the schedule James had come up with, and no one put up their hands so James concluded the meeting and the Ravenclaw prefects went off to start their patrol on the train.

Lily started packing up her things and started walking towards the door, leaving Potter behind.

"Where you off to?" he questioned and Lily turned.

"My friends. You didn't think I'd hang out with a buffoon like you all day? I'll see you at five, Potter. Don't miss me too much," she winked before she could stop herself. It's something she would've said before but things had changed. She kicked herself before going to find her friends.

—

Sirius was going to throw himself off of the train if he had to listen to one more minute of whatever Peter was babbling on about. James had yet to return and Remus was too polite to tell Peter that they didn't actually care about the customer who demanded a refund on a perfectly good toy in his dad's shop. Usually Sirius would tell him to shut it but James had said he'd been a little mean to Peter (he didn't think he was) and it had been playing on his mind so he was letting Peter babble on about his dad's toy shop despite the fact that he wanted to throw himself off a moving train.

Sirius glanced over to Remus who was listening and nodding and giving appropriate reactions to everything and Sirius rolled his eyes. This was worse than tea with his stuck up mother and Aunt. Nonetheless, Sirius waited until Peter finished his lame story to ask, "When is James getting back?"

Remus shrugged, "Meeting finished ten minutes ago."

"I'm going to go find him."

Remus shrugged again and Sirius hopped up and left the compartment turning around again to jinx the door so that it would slam shut on the next person to enter.

"What are you doing, Black?"

Sirius looked up and grinned. Ella Dearborn was shutting the door to her compartment. "Dearborn. Lovely to see you as always."

"What are you doing? You know, Lily's in there and she won't appreciate you tampering with the train."

"Good thing I'm only tampering the door, then."

Ella pursed her lips. "Right. Have a good holiday then?"

Sirius shrugged. "It was hot. I got drunk on several occasions. I vacationed in France for two weeks. All in all, I'd say it was above average. You aren't going to dob me into Evans, are you? Oh, and have you seen James?"

"Potter? Nah, haven't seen him and I won't tell Lily but if she catches you, I knew nothing."

"Fair enough," Sirius agreed. "How was your holiday then?" Ella grimaced. "That bad?"

"Let's just say I wish I had only seen my folks once the entire summer."

"Pretty bad then," Sirius concluded, sticking his wand back into his pocket. They both started walking down the train together.

"I saw _The Killer Veelas_ in concert," Ella offered. "And my brother and I went to Brazil for two weeks."

"Which concert did you go to? The one near Appleby or the one down near Brighton?"

"Appleby."

"I went to the one in Brighton. They were pretty good."

"They were," Ella agreed. "Do you really not talk to your parents?"

Sirius went stony faced, "I gotta go find James. See you around, Dearborn." He took off down the train leaving Ella stunned momentarily. His family had always been a sore subject and he preferred to avoid them in conversation and in real life. The whole summer had gone by and he'd only seen his mother once at King's Cross where she was standing with Regulus, her lips pursed as usual as though everything displeased her. Sirius liked it better this way. He lived with the Potters' and it was much better. He often marvelled at the fact that he cared a great deal more for James' parents than he did his own.

"Oi! Black!" she called out and he stopped, "I bet you a galleon your jinx on the door breaks Potter's glasses."

Sirius grinned. "You're on!" With that Sirius continued on down the train in a considerably good mood considering he was pretty sure by the end of the train ride he'd owe Dearborn a galleon. Random students greeted him as he walked and he acknowledged their presence with a nod until Isadora Spinnet stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

She was tall for a girl, only a centimetre shorter than Sirius, and she had a lanky body to match. Her chestnut hair was piled in a bun on her hair and her lips were glossed. She was by all standards pretty but she was a Hufflepuff and Hufflepuff girls always wanted a relationship making her unsuitable for Sirius. James and he had decided at the beginning of summer that the one time hook-up with a hot Hufflepuff girl was not worth the weeks of harassment that would surely follow.

"Hello, Isadora," Sirius greeted, "You seen James by any chance?"

"It's Izzy, silly," she giggled, her hand lightly hitting his arm.

"Right, James then?" Sirius tried.

"No, I haven't seen him. I could help you look," she offered and Sirius was deliberating how to politely say no when James called out his name.

"Sirius!"

"Just the man I was looking for," Sirius chirped, carefully stepping around Isadora. "Peter was boring me with a story about his dad."

"Sirius," James warned.

"I know, I know. Don't worry I sat through the boring monologue of whatever it was Peter was going on about before going to find you."

James nodded. "I'm starved, have you seen the trolley lady?"

"Haven't passed her."

"Me either."

"Moony has chocolate."

James wagged his eyebrows in consideration. "Reckon he'll give us some? You need something, Spinnet?" James looked pointedly at Spinnet who seemed to be waiting for something.

She huffed, "I guess not," and disappeared into her compartment.

"What have I said about going after Hufflepuff chicks?" James said annoyed. "They get attached."

"Helena Bonham," Sirius coughed, "And it's not my fault if I'm so devilishly handsome that the girl wants to stalk me."

"Helena Bonham was a summer fling, we were in a relationship of sorts and then at the end of the summer, I broke up with her and she cried and it was awful. You reckon Moony will give us chocolate?"

"I reckon he will if you act depressed over Evans."

"Why would I be upset over Evans?"

Sirius just looked at him. "Well, why did you need a summer fling with a Hufflepuff?"

"Sex."

Sirius rolled his eyes because anyone with two eyes knew that James was hung up on Evans — has been for a good two years — and anyone else was just a distraction. But Sirius knew James would hear none of it so instead, "You're always upset over Evans. Just have an existential crisis over the fact that Evans doesn't like you and Remus will hand you chocolate like you're a sad, lost, abandoned puppy."

"You know you're not supposed to feed chocolate to a dog, right?" James inquired.

"It was a metaphor, James."

"Technically, it was a simile. And I wonder if you'd die if I fed you chocolate when you were in dog form."

"I'd rather not find out, mate."

James considered it for a moment, "Eh." Sirius glared at him. "Kidding. Mum would disown me if I let you die." Sirius glared at him again. "Wha — oh right, no mother disownment jokes. Sorry." Sirius kept glaring at him. "Cut it out, I said I was sorry."

They continued down the train until they reached their compartment and Sirius purposely let James ahead of him and was thoroughly amused when the door slammed on him. Sirius could hear the sound of a galleon disappearing as James' glasses cracked. James glared at Sirius.

"It wasn't me."

"You're a terrible liar. Moony my man, I heard you have chocolate and I am famished," James entered the compartment, flopping down on the seat opposite him, not bothering to fix his glasses — he'd had worse than a crack.

"That's my chocolate. Go find the Trolley Lady."

Sirius raised his eyebrows pointedly at James and James sighed.

"I just wish Lily would give me a chance you know-"

Remus put down the crossword he was doing and looked at James. "What happened this time? You two seemed fine in the meeting."

"It's not anything that really happened," James explained feigning a look of pure unhappiness. "It's just, all of last year I was her friend and I thought I would be over her by now, you know, but I'm just not. It's quite the problem, Moony. I'm in love with a girl who will never love me back."

"Maybe you should try asking her out again?" Remus suggested.

"What so he can be rejected? Again," Sirius added as an afterthought.

"But he didn't spend all of last year acting like a total toerag."

"Thanks, Remus. You really know how to comfort a friend."

Remus narrowed his eyes. "You're not upset at all!" he realised horrified. "You're trying to con me into giving you chocolate!"

"That's low," Sirius told James. "How could you try to fool dear, old Moony that way?"

"I'm not fooled, Padfoot. It was probably your idea."

"Ha!"

"Should I bother to ask if either of you did your homework over the summer?"

Sirius shrugged whilst James answered, "No."

"Oh, good you can help me with my Herbology essay!" Peter exclaimed.

"Seriously, Wormtail? Herbology?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "An idiot could pass herbology whilst sleeping." James coughed loudly and nudged Sirius who rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll help you."

—

At five o'clock Lily found Potter with his glasses cracked in the middle, in a compartment at the end of the train with his three mates, like they usually were. The Marauders, Lily thought, the group that had turned Professor McGonagall's hair grey. Their infamous nickname that had been given to them in the second year by their strict Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gilbert.

" _Occulus Reparo_ ," Lily said pointing her wand at his glasses when James had joined her in the corridor. The crack vanished and James lifted his glasses off his nose to inspect them and he hummed in approval, though Lily wasn't sure how good his vision was without the glasses.

"Thanks."

"What happened?" Lily asked as they continued down the train.

"Sirius bewitched the door to slam close whenever someone tried to walk through."

Lily laughed and James frowned indignantly. He shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled out a small mirror.

"Sirius Black," he said, though Sirius was nowhere in sight and Lily looked at him in confusion before looking at the mirror. A small gasp escaped her lips and her eyes went wide with wonder and excitement. The mirror was not reflecting James or Lily, it was showing them Sirius.

"Miss me already, Prongs?"

Lily gasped again and smiled widely, "How did you get one of those? That's really amazing magic, I mean it's complex and a little difficult but amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"

"Thanks, Evans," Sirius said and James chuckled.

"It's a simple charm really," he said.

"You made that yourself?"

"We just enchanted the mirrors," James said, "No big deal."

"Stop being modest, Prongs," Sirius said and he turned to Lily, "It took the better half of a month and serious corresponding with my dear friend John Garrowick before we finally got it to work properly."

"That's amazing, so clever," Lily praised their work.

"James, I think we just got Lily Evans' stamp of approval!" he said in a shocked voice.

Lily found herself enjoying talking to James and Sirius, although there were times she didn't understand their jokes she did find them quite funny not that she'd ever admit it. About a half hour in Sirius told them that he had to go and help Peter Pettigrew with the Transfiguration homework Professor McGonagall had set for the holidays.

"Honestly," Sirius had said, "It's amazing how dumb he is at transfiguration considering he-" Sirius's words were drowned out by James coughing loudly and Lily was wondering what Peter had done that should make him so accomplished in transfiguration. "Well anyways, bye!" he said and the mirror became a normal mirror again. Lily marvelled over the glorious magic.

—

James watched as Lily marvelled over the enchanted mirrors. He found it endearing that she always seemed surprised and overjoyed by magic. To James, magic had always seemed ordinary. When he was little his dad would make his toys fly around his room. The dishes always washed themselves and his mother would have made his bed with a flick of a wand. It had always been natural. Magic existed and there was no question about it.

James had always thought Lily Evans was beautiful. He didn't know what it was about her that he couldn't quite forget. Perhaps it was her auburn red hair that came to an abrupt stop after her shoulders or perhaps it was the piercing green eyes and the way that her face seemed to be all sharp edges yet she was incredibly kind — to everyone but him, of course, that was the infuriating part. Or perhaps it had to do with the little quirky stuff she did like the way she'd always have a quill in her hand whenever she studied or the way her hand hovered slightly over her mouth when she couldn't control her laughter. James didn't have the slightest inclination as to why he couldn't forget Lily Evans but he knew he should forget her now. The end of the school year had proven that. Lily would never go out with James and it was time he accept that.

"How was your summer then?" Lily asked, trying to keep the conversation flowing but James answered with a simple, "Good." He didn't particularly want to talk to Evans.

"So we're just going to forget about all of last year then?" Lily asked James and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes.

James chose not to answer because the end of last year was all that really needed to be said about their relationship and he thought leaving it there was a good idea. But apparently for Lily, that was not a good idea.

"So you're just going to ignore me?" James still didn't answer and Lily huffed and crossed her arms. "Really mature, so glad I even bothered to waste my time on you!"

"See, that's your problem," James exclaimed turning to face her. "You think the sun shines out of your ass! You can't believe you _bothered_ to waste your time on _me_! Ha! News flash, love, you aren't that great. Your hair is two shades away from being the colour of a carrot. You're stubborn. You have too many freckles on your nose. You're a tease. And you are so god damn uptight that it is absolutely infuriating!"

James didn't even see it happen. One moment he was staring at Lily, the next he was clutching his nose, a slow trickle of blood flowing out and Lily was shaking her hand.

"What the hell, Evans?" James shouted, "You've gone mad! I think you broke my nose!"

Lily shrugged, nursing the hand that had collided into James' nose in a fist. "You bloody deserved it!"

"I'm Head Boy!"

"Yeah? What are you going to do about it? Take points from Gryffindor?" she dared.

James narrowed his eyes at her. "You just started a game, Evans. Suit up," he told her before stalking off down the train.

He didn't go back to his mates. He didn't want to explain his bloody nose and Evans — they didn't know anything about Evans — and besides it was Gryffindor's turn to patrol. So he pulled his wand out and fixed his nose up as best as he could before continuing his patrol alone.

Lily Evans. Where did James start? She was beautiful, he'd already mentioned that. She _didn't_ have too many freckles and her hair _was_ just the right shade of red — it looked nothing like a carrot. Instead it was a dark red and shimmered like a red sea in the sunlight. Lily Evans was pretty, there was no denying it. But she was also the most infuriating woman on the entire planet. She was uptight, she was stubborn and she'd certainly proven herself a tease last year. Flirting with him and being friends with him, leading him on until after the Easter holidays their flirting had ended in a passageway hidden by a tapestry on the Fourth Floor, their lips glued together and James so elated he could hardly believe it was happening. And so, it continued like that for the rest of the year. Two glorious months spent sneaking away from their friends to hook-up in broom closets and hidden corridors. It had been tricky to hide it from his mates, he always had to make sure he had the map on him but it had been doable. Lily and James had been like fire, one that Lily effectively dosed a bucket of water on and that had been that. She'd gotten his hopes up only to smack them all away as though he'd been some stranger trying to cop a feel of her arse.

James' summer had been spent forgetting Lily Evans but the thing about Lily Evans was that she was a hard woman to forget. No amount of Quidditch, or snogging with Helena Bonham in the bathroom of the Golden Mermaid had been enough. No book could quite distract him from the memory of Lily's lips on his and no amount of running could quite get rid of the memory of Lily rejecting him. In all, it had been a productive summer, thanks to Lily Evans, and yet it hadn't achieved its desired purpose, to forget her. It was hardly the summer's fault that Lily Evans was quite the unforgettable witch and to top it off, he just had to run into her at _Flourish and Blotts_. It certainly did not help that her legs looked exquisite in denim shorts — all long and willowy — and his mother had become completely besotted with her, which was just adding fuel to the rage because Lily god damn Evans was not perfect. She was mean, uptight and quite frankly, a tease and yet none of those facts seemed to erase Lily from his mind. Not even the fact that she'd broken his nose — though something would have to be done about that. She got to break his heart and get away with it. She didn't get to get away with breaking his nose, too.

As Head Boy and Girl, James and Lily were required to be the last two students off the train. Usually the Heads walked the length of the train together to ensure everyone was off and no possessions were left behind, but Lily and James were quite angry with each other. Lily, angry that he had his head stuck so far up his arse and James angry that she had her head stuck so far up her arse and so they started at opposite ends of the train and met in the middle. James held a Daily Prophet and had it open to page four as he tsked.

"Another muggle family killed," he explained. He wanted Lily to think he was over their spat.

Lily raised an eyebrow but conceded. "Who were they?"

"Stevens family. They had a muggle-born daughter. She survived but everyone else died. Aurors confirmed the killing curse."

James sighed in relief. If he had to choose a way to go, it'd be the killing curse. Any other way was too painful or too cruel. Killing curse was quick. Spell hits you and you're dead. No pain. Just like going to sleep, he'd imagined.

"Stevens," Lily muttered, trying to think. "Martha - no, Meredith Stevens. She's a Ravenclaw in Third Year I think."

James nodded. "She's on their Quidditch team."

"That's so sad," Lily said, glancing at a black and white photo of a family of five. The younger children couldn't be more than ten years old. She looked away not wanting to think about how that family was killed and turned to James. "We should get off the train now."

James nodded and left the compartment without a word and Lily followed but when her foot was just about to step off the train, she found it stuck in a sickly, black goo that had spread over her foot and trapping it onto the floor of the train that was ready to depart any minute now. Lily felt a panic rise in her voice.

"Potter!" she screeched as a train guard blew a whistle. James turned around and Lily thought she saw a smirk. "My foot is stuck and the train leaves at exactly 7-"

"Fifteen," James finished. "I know the schedule of the train, Evans."

"Help me off," Lily demanded trying to move her foot but the more she moved it the more the icky goo grew. James tried to contain his smirk, but he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Nah, I don't think so.," he said to Lily's horror and he turned around and then hesitated and turned back to face her. "You really shouldn't have started the game," he told her, touching his nose with his index finger.

She tried to call after him but it was as though he'd gone deaf. He turned and walked to the area where Lily knew horseless carriages would be waiting. Lily watched in horror as James disappeared from sight but she didn't have time to get angry at him. The train would be leaving any second now she had to think of a way out.

James sauntered into the Great Hall and found his mates immediately. They were sat halfway down the table and were levitating the empty, golden goblets to hit second years on their heads. James went over to them and sat down next to Remus Lupin who was a tired looking boy with light brown hair that fell into his light, almost hazel, green eyes.

"Prongs, Helena Bonham is looking at you," Peter said looking pointedly at the Hufflepuff table.

"Well then stop looking," James snapped. He didn't much care about Helena Bonham. She'd been a shit momentary distraction and that was that. It was not his fault if she got attached.

He looked across the staff table at the front of the hall and noticed a new teacher. She was quite a sight in ripped jeans, a thick, pink woolly sweater and scruffy blonde hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in days tucked under a blue knit beanie. She also had a horrid scar running down her face. "New defence teacher, do you reckon?"

James asked Remus, Sirius and Peter. They turned to look.

"I'm willing to bet a few galleons on it," Sirius said, before Professor McGonagall marched in with the nervous first years. Sirius aimed a trip jinx at a little boy who held a rat. Remus shook his head and James remained indifferent. Sirius had been tripping first years ever since he learnt how to do the jinx. The little boy stared at Sirius suspiciously and Sirius pretended to be looking at something across the hall.

The Sorting started and James couldn't help but notice that Lily still hadn't come to the feast. He hoped she realised all she needed was to remove the goo with fire, until he remembered that he shouldn't even be thinking about or noticing Lily Evans. He pushed it to the back of his mind. Lily Evans was not his concern. She'd made that perfectly clear on several occasions.

The little boy whom Sirius had tripped turned out to be sorted into Gryffindor. His name was Daniel Wentworth and he concluded the Sorting Ceremony. Dumbledore didn't really say anything of importance, just the usual rubbish, and then the food appeared. Lily still hadn't come to the feast.

—

Marlene pursed her lips as she craned her neck. She thought maybe Lily had chosen a seat up the front to welcome the new firsties but there was no sign of her and Lily was an easy person to spot in a crowd thanks to her dark red hair.

"Has anyone seen Lily since we got off the train?" Marlene asked.

Alice shook her head, "Maybe she had to do something. Head Girl stuff maybe?"

"The Head students are always at the Welcoming Feast," Ella commented. "See? Potter's down the end of the table."

Marlene turned her head and sure enough Potter was sitting with his mates and Marlene's concern grew.

"Marly, eat," Adaline ordered. "Your chicken is going cold."

"Lily is missing!"

"She's around here somewhere. Stop fretting and eat before I eat your food for you."

"Urgh. You know who I can't stand?" Alice asked.

"Who?" Ella asked.

"Frank's mother. She's just so urgh."

"Nice use of vocabulary," Marlene commented.

"Well, she is," Alice defended before going into her story of how Mrs Longbottom expects Alice and Frank to get married before they move in together. "It's completely ridiculous! Frank and I want to move in together as soon as I finish Hogwarts and I'm not going to get _married_ at eighteen. She's completely mental."

"Nate's parents are like that. Felicia wanted to move out when she got engaged but her parents are making her wait until she's married. I think they just want to spend us much time as possible with her until she moves towns for good. They want to go down to Shell Bay."

"I still think she's being unreasonable!" Alice huffed.

"I thought we were supposed to move in together after Hogwarts," Adaline frowned.

"What?"

"We always said that after Hogwarts we'd live together, didn't we?"

Alice looked to Ella and Marlene for help. "Don't look at us, you two did always say that," Ella shrugged before turning to Marlene. "So my mum wants me home for Christmas but if you're staying she'll let me stay."

"Ella, we just got to Hogwarts."

"Yes, but I'd like to know whether I have to count down excitedly til Christmas or whether I'd rather stab my eye with a fork the night before the train leaves."

"Lovely."

"So are you staying or…"

Marlene sighed, "I don't know, yet, El and where is Lily? This is getting ridiculous!"

"It is strange," Ella frowned. "Dinner is almost finished. She loves the Welcoming Feast, even if she had something to do, she would've came to eat, right?"

"Definitely." Marlene agreed.

—

She stopped struggling knowing that the larger the goo got the harder it'd be to remove. Lily looked closely at the goo and noticed that it bubbled and hissed, it was Serpent Glut. Lily was sure of it, she had seen it on sale at Zonko's last year in Hogsmeade. Lily also vaguely remembered how to destroy it. Fire. She'd have to set the goo on fire.

Pulling her wand out of her robes, she pointed it at the goo and murmured, "Incendio." The goo slowly melted away however Lily was not quick enough to extinguish the flames. Her leg was suddenly alight with flames and Lily quickly shouted, "Aguamenti!" and pointed her wand at her leg. The train slowly started to move and Lily didn't have time to feel the burning sensation on her leg. She jumped from the train and because her leg was weak landed in a sprawl on the hard floor.

Lily jumped up and ran to where the carriages usually awaited, but there were none left. Knowing that the gates closed after a certain time, Lily ignored her burned leg – it could wait until she got to Hogwarts – and hastily made her way up the hill.

Lily remained silent on the trip up when she should have been cursing James Potter to the ends of the Earth. The news from the Prophet had unsettled her. Had Voldemort decided to go after the families of muggle-borns? It would be a clever way to create fear amongst the muggle-borns. Some would flee, some would try to hunt down the Death Eaters who did his bidding and others would keep their heads down. Lily wondered whether the protective charms she had cast around her parents house would keep the Death Eaters out. She had done every spell she had known, she had even bought a book from _Flourish and Blotts_ to try and give her family the most advanced protection. It was hard because, of course, the protection could not interfere with her parents' muggle lives and it had to go unnoticed by the muggles living in the area. The house couldn't just disappear from sight.  
Lily arrived at Hogwarts slightly breathless and sighed with relief when she saw the gates were still open. She hurried inside the gates and then walked up to the castle. The doors had been closed but not locked so Lily pushed the heavy door to the Entrance Hall open and then heaved it closed before continuing on to the Great Hall.

Lily went and sat with her friends who all gave her worrying looks as they watched her limp on the leg she had burnt. Marlene lifted Lily's robe and saw the irritated red and bubbly skin and gasped.

"Merlin, Lily! What happened?"

"What happened to your leg?" Alice asked fretfully. Her brown eyes looked at the wound and then she pulled out her wand and waved it over Lily's leg. The pain dyed out like a flame with no oxygen and Lily thanked her as she inspected the leg. There was still a bit of skin discolouration but otherwise the leg was back to normal. She pushed her robes back over her leg and then started her tale.

"I bet Potter put the Serpent Glut there himself! Thought he'd look better if you showed up to the Welcoming Feast late. Hmph!" Adaline said angrily pulling out her wand from her robes, "We'll show him, Lily! What should I hex him with?"

"A bat-bogey hex?" suggested Marlene with a happy twinkle in her blue eyes. "Or maybe you could vanish his hair."

"Or his clothes," Ella suggested and everyone laughed. Even Lily laughed slyly and she never tolerated hexing people or playing magical pranks on people.

"Just leave him be," Lily instructed. The 'game' was between her and Potter. Her friends didn't even know the real reason he'd done it and she had started it. She had punched him, quite brilliantly, if she may say. "I did break his nose with-"

Lily was interrupted by loud, roaring laughter from a few seats down the Gryffindor table. The source none other than James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were laughing like kookaburras on a telegraph pole. Lily turned away from them and sniffed slightly.

"The whole school'll know by tomorrow! Lily Evans made a fool of," she said miserably playing with the food on her plate and a certain feeling rose in Lily. She didn't want anything to do with Potter anymore, she'd been determined to make sure they were on good terms for their final year but suddenly those feelings flew away. She may have hurt his feelings last year but she wasn't obliged to go out with Potter just because he liked her. It certainly didn't warrant the things he'd said about her. Lily looked at the tips of her hair. They were nowhere near the colour of a carrot and did she really have too many freckles? She touched her nose consciously and then shook her head. Potter was being a prat. She wasn't stubborn, she certainly wasn't a tease and she definitely wasn't uptight. He was just arrogant and couldn't take no for an answer.

Marlene shot Lily a stern glance and said, "The only one who can make a fool of Lily Evans is and always will be Lily Evans. Don't let Potter" — "Who is a brainless git!" Alice interrupted — , "Get to you!"

"Besides there are bigger things going on at the moment," Adaline said. "Did you hear what happened to Amelia Bones' and her mother?"

"Amelia Bones? The Head Girl from Ravenclaw, when was it? About Two or three years ago?" Lily asked.

"Last week, a Death Eater or two went to their house trying to recruit Amelia's mother but obviously she declined, you know she's the one who spearheads the campaign against Voldemort with Mrs Potter, and the Death Eaters didn't take that too kindly and Mrs Bones and the Death Eater duelled! Apparently Amelia got home just in time and stunned the Death Eater before apparating her mother to St Mungo's and calling the Ministry. Apparently Mrs Bones has suffered from some memory loss. She still thinks it's 1964!"

"That's so sad!" Lily said, "I hope she's all right. Poor Amelia."

"What a thing to come home to," Marlene tusked with a sombre look in her eyes.

"Did they catch the Death Eater?" Ella asked.

Adaline shook her head, "But apparently, it's Yaxely's dad." The five of them looked over at the Slytherin table where Salvatore Yaxely was laughing with his friends, Severus Snape among them to Lily's disappointment. Yes, she was right to ignore Severus' attempts to talk to her and she didn't know whether that comforted her or disturbed her.


	4. Chapter 3: Boys and Other Things

Lily was horrified to find out that her and James' antics yesterday was the main source of conversation at the Gryffindor table the next morning and Lily had dealt with this by resting her head on the table until Professor McGonagall came around to hand out timetables.

"Now, Miss Evans, I believe you will be continuing with Potions, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology and Arithmancy?" she asked, peering at long piece of parchment that just almost touched the floor. "I see you are doing quite well."

"Yes, Professor," Lily agreed.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall said and she conjured up Lily's timetable handing it to her. "And Miss Evans, you will do well to remember that as Head Girl you can not go around punching the Head Boy." Lily felt the blood rush to her cheeks and bowed her head slightly.

"Yes, Professor," Lily nodded. "Sorry."

"None the matter. And Evans," she said before moving onto Marlene, "Congratulations. You deserve it."

Lily beamed and said, "Thank you, Professor!"

Professor McGonagall nodded curtly before talking to Marlene about her subjects and Lily read her timetable and was disappointed that she had Herbology first. She'd been hoping for Potions. Potions had always been her favourite. Something about it felt so orderly, like cooking. There was a recipe and if you followed it correctly you ended with an awesome potion. Her mood further diminished when she realised she would never have Potions on Fridays. Today would consist of double Herbology in the morning followed with Charms and then a free period and lunch followed by another free period and then Arithmancy. At least she had Charms. Lily had always been good at Charms.

"Do you think the work is going to be much harder?" Marlene asked twirling a piece of her stringy, blonde hair around her finger nervously. Lily tucked away her timetable.

"Relax, you'll be fine," Lily assured her friend. Marlene had a knack for worrying a bit too much on school. Lily thought school was important but she didn't think that all there was to life. Besides Lily only stressed over it when it was important, like exams or which subjects could give her the career she wanted. "At least you know you want to become a healer when you leave school. I've no idea what I want to do."

Marlene rolled her eyes as she swallowed the toast she'd been chewing on. "Oh please, go work at St Mungo's as a potioneer. You'd be making all sorts of potions and maybe you'd be able to even create your own potions!"

"I know I'd be good at that, but I just don't know how I'd feel about standing over a cauldron my whole life besides I've always wanted to do something to do with the ministry."

"You're thinking way too much into it," Marlene said and Lily frowned, finding it ironic that the girl who had changed her mind only a billion times was telling Lily that she was thinking too much into it. Besides, a career was an important decision to make. You could be doing it for the rest of your life.

Ella sat opposite Marlene and Lily in a fluster. "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Lily asked disinterested as she studied her timetable. She only had one class with the Slytherins, Potions. Severus would be in her class indefinitely.

"The Marauders they've blown up every toilet in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom! She's been moping around all morning and crying saying that students have personally attacked her."

"Who said it was the Marauders?" Marlene asked as Alice sat down.

Alice grabbed a piece of toast and said, "Leonora Stretton has been spreading the rumour since seven in the morning. Apparently she heard explosions coming out of the bathroom and then saw the Marauders I quote 'fleeing the scene' unquote."

"Really?" Ella said, "I heard it from Polly Piggens and Hannah Abott. They've been talking about it all morning."

"I swear that would be just like Potter," Lily almost growled getting annoyed immediately.

He was supposed to be setting an example, not blowing up toilets. Why Dumbledore even thought Potter was a good choice for Head Boy was beyond Lily. He was as arrogant as ever thinking nothing had consequences, but she'd show him. Game on, all right.

—

James Potter was sitting on his bed trying to muster up the energy to actually get up. Remus, Peter and Alex Brown (the quiet member of their dormitory that was obsessed with reading textbooks, James had been told that was called studying) had all gotten up at seven and it was now seven thirty and James was still sitting on his bed. Sirius was still sleeping, snoring loudly too, it was bothering James. Why couldn't he sleep quietly?

Another five minutes passed before he actually got up. He threw a pillow at Sirius in the process and Sirius grunted, "What?"

"Get up, it's seven forty and if you want to brush your lovely mane of hair I suggest you move your butt, Padfoot."

James had a quick shower and changed into his school robes. He didn't bother brushing his hair, it'd still stick up at the back and McGonagall would probably still tell him off for not combing his hair. When James got out of the bathroom Sirius went in.

James sat back down on his bed and considered when he could hold Quidditch trials. They'd have to be held sometime within a week, he would have a lot of new players to train so he wanted to get as many training sessions in as possible before their game against Slytherin in November. Three players had left and James now needed two new beaters and a keeper. Trials would be a drag but the quicker he got them over with the quicker he could start whipping everyone into shape.

James laughed to himself as he heard Sirius singing along with the wireless that James had left in the bathroom. Remus came back into their dormitory looking fresh and cheerful. He held three pieces of parchment.

"I see you're awake," he said happily. "I somehow managed to get Professor McGonagall to give me yours and Sirius' schedules." Remus handed James his schedule and groaned when he saw that they had Potions first. That meant yucky smells going up their noses and possible explosions of gooey muck. Potter did not forget the dreadful experience last year where their concoction had melted through Lily Evans' cauldron and burned a sizeable hole in the wooden table before Professor Slughorn vanished the thick, green goo.

"Thanks, Moony," James yawned. "Where's Peter?"

"Well he's with Professor McGonagall," Remus said and James arched his eyebrow. "He's, we are all, apparently in trouble."

"Why?" James said.

"You and Sirius didn't happen to sneak out at night and blow up all the toilets in the second floor girl's bathroom?"

"Someone blew up Moaning Myrtle's bathroom? That's genius! Why the hell didn't Padfoot and I think of that?"

"Prongs, focus! We're all being blamed for it!"

"Yeah but – wait what? We're being blamed for it, why?"

"Because who else would blow up a toilet in this school? Ninety nine point nine percent of the pranks at this school is our doing."

James yawned again. "It's too early for this and Elora Prinstone in there is giving me a headache," James said pointing towards their bathroom where the noises of a dying seal could be heard coming from. Sirius had tried to hit a high note and even Remus winced.

"Bloody hell, Padfoot!" James shouted, "Shut it! You sound like a bloody banshee!"

James Potter's head hurt indeed. It began to hurt even more when suddenly his hair started to itch. He scratched his head and scowled when he noticed his hair falling out in large chunks. He looked around for the perpetrator, ready to give them a good telling off when a hand curled around his arm and he was pulled behind a tapestry, face to face with Lily bloody Evans. Fan-bloody-tastic. Just what he needed.

"What do you think you're doing, Potter?" she demanded to know and James quite not in the mood for Lily replied curtly.

"Going to class, it's Herbology now isn't it?" he asked her. "Oh, and you didn't happen to see anyone hex me did you? My hair seems to be falling out."

"Tragic," Lily said indifferently, "And, no," Lily snapped.

"It's not Herbology?" James asked and he started digging around his bag for his timetable, "I could've sworn Sirius said Herbology."

"No, you idiot, I mean what are you doing, as in why are you a complete moron?" — "Thanks for clarifying," James said dryly — "You are Head Boy now! Weren't you listening on the train when I said we set the standards? That means you can't go around blowing up toilets!"

"I think you have high blood pressure," James decided, "You should go to Madam Pomfrey."

"Potter, I'm not in the mood!"

"Well neither am I and I didn't blow up any damn toilets!" he hissed at her before stalking out of the hidden corridor. Great, now he was going to be late for Herbology and Professor Postumus had promised James a house point for every lesson he arrived on time. Now he was also cranky. Not only had he missed out on a point for Gryffindor but he was now being dragged into corridors by Lily Evans and being accused of blowing up Moaning Myrtle's toilets.

Lily stalked out after him and called out, "Oh, and Potter!" He stopped and Lily continued, "The games is so on." He turned around slowly.

"You didn't," he said, running a hand through his hair and an unnatural amount of locks fell out.

Lily smirked, "Oh, I so did. You may want to find a counter curse before all your pretty hair falls out." James' jaw set and he could've sworn his eye twitched out of anger. "See you in Herbology," she said cheerily as she all but skipped passed him. Damn her. Did she really have to hex him on the one morning when he just was not bothered? And because he wasn't bothered, he summoned a black beanie from his dormitory and shoved it over his head to hide the fact he was steadily going bald and labelled it as a problem to deal with at lunch before heading to Herbology where he stared daggers at Evans the entire period.

—

Adaline had been giving Alice a bit of a cold shoulder all day. She couldn't really say that she was surprised that Alice would prefer to move in with her boyfriend over Adaline (her best friend since first year) but it still hurt a little and that was what Adaline was thinking about in Charms when Professor Flitwick decided to call on her.

"Miss Bennett, can you please explain the reason why non-verbal spells, if not done correctly, are less powerful than verbal spells?"

But Adaline hadn't been paying attention and sat gobsmacked in front of the whole class. Alice slid a piece of parchment over with the answer and Adaline read it out, Flitwick copying the answer onto the black board. Adaline slid the parchment back without a thank you and then glared at the board again. Alice tusked.

"You have to talk to me some time," she snapped quietly. Adaline said nothing. "Bloody hell, you can't be that shocked. Frank and I have been together for two years and we're going to be aurors together. It makes sense! All that stuff we said back then, it's just stuff you say because you can! Like when your mum says she'll get you a horse one day, you know it's not actually going to happen."

"I got a horse for my seventh birthday."

Alice snorted, "You have gotten everything you've ever wanted from your parents and brothers but life isn't like that, Della."

"Am I interrupting something, ladies?" Professor Flitwick asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Er, no sir," Alice replied quickly, "Sorry."

"Well, at least you're sorry about something," Adaline muttered.

Alice squinted her eyes and was about to say something but Lily coughed and gave them both a pointed look. Alice folded her arms, falling back into her seat and Adaline focused on writing notes and they ignored each other for the rest of the lesson.

As soon as the bell rung, Adaline packed her things quickly and left immediately. Lily caught up to her in the crowded corridors, a little breathless.

"You have a free period now don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Want to sit outside and do the Herbology essay?"

Adaline agreed and they turned into a corridor that would lead them to the Entrance Hall.

"You know," Lily started.

"Oh, please don't start with the lecture about Alice. I know I'm being unreasonable."

"And yet…"

Adaline sighed. "Is it stupid to be jealous?"

"No. I get jealous of Frank and Alice all the time. You know I've hardly ever seen them fight?"

"And the way Frank would always kiss her forehead when they hugged."

"So annoying," Lily agreed. "But you know, Ella and Marlene will probably move in together after Hogwarts so we could move in together after Hogwarts, if you wanted that is."

"And granted neither of us has a boyfriend," Adaline pointed out and Lily giggled.

"Please, who would I get together with?"

"James" "Don't finish that-" "Potter."

"I hate you! He left me glued to a train, Della!"

"You punched him in the nose."

"It's not going to happen. Ever."

Adaline shook her head but didn't say anything because in her opinion no one would be more perfect for each other than James Potter and Lily Evans but Lily always turned a blind eye when it came to Potter. No matter how many times that Adaline had tried to convince her to give him a chance.

"So, Herbology should be pretty easy, right?"

"Should be?"

"Because I'm thinking, it's pretty warm out and we could ditch the essay and dip our feet in the lake instead."

Lily grinned.

—

Ella smirked when she came across a pile of make-up on the vanity in the bathroom. With one swift move she'd knocked it all into the bin where it was promptly vanished immediately.

"What did you just put in the bin?" Alice asked suspiciously as she came into the bathroom.

"I didn't put anything in the bin."

"Ella … where's my make-up?"

Ella shrugged and waltzed out of the bathroom, laying down on her bed as Alice searched for her make-up.

"You threw it out, didn't you?" Marlene asked appalled.

Ella shrugged again. "Anything to piss mum off, right?"

Marlene lay down next to Ella. "Alice is going to be so pissed. It's only second day back, Ella."

"I know."

Marlene sighed. "Alice, shut-up about your make-up! I don't think Ella's touched it! I was in the bathroom before her and there wasn't any make-up on the vanity. Maybe, you packed it away."

"I saw her put something in the bin!" Alice insisted. "It was my make-up, I just know it! She _always_ does this and you _always_ try to cover up for her. I am so sick of buying new make-up," she grumbled, before storming out of the dormitory, the door slamming behind her.

"Now look what you did."

Ella just shrugged again. She never asked Marlene to cover for her. In fact, Ella wanted Alice to know it was her who threw out her make-up. That was the whole point. So Mrs Vance would annoy Ella's mum about it. Maybe if they became tight enough on money, her mum would finally leave her sorry excuse of a husband. Ella almost laughed at the thought. Mrs Dearborn would never leave Mr Dearborn. Ella and her brother had been trying for months but Mrs Dearborn was set in her ways and she'd "said her vows". Mrs Dearborn wouldn't leave Mr Dearborn no matter how much money he lost gambling or how much he drunk or how unhappy the family home had become.

"Is it really so bad at home?" Marlene asked quietly.

"Yeah," Ella whispered, "It is. Doc moved out. Got an apartment in the city. I wanted to go with him but mum wouldn't let. Said I have to wait until I finish school."

"That's not so bad."

But that wasn't quite true but Ella didn't have the heart to get into it just then so instead she said, "As long as I don't have to go back for Christmas."

—

By the end of the day Lily already had mounds of homework, including the Herbology essay, so after Arithmancy she retired to the library to get a head start on it. It had taken her a while to concentrate, her materials spread out across a table in the far corner. She'd successfully hexed James, and she highly doubted he'd had time to find the counter curse unless he went straight to Madam Pomfrey, which judging by the fact that he wore a beanie in September, he didn't. Lily felt a sweet sort of satisfaction at having the upper hand in the 'game' they seemed to be having. Though that did mean that she'd have to be on the look out for his retaliation and knowing that Potter also did not have class now did not help. Hopefully, he was too preoccupied trying to fix his hair. Yes, Lily thought, he wouldn't get Lily back until he'd fixed his hair.

James had denied blowing up the toilets and Lily couldn't help but wonder who it could've been. Perhaps a silly third or second year? She'd been so sure it was the Marauders. The prank basically screamed them so Lily decided that James must've been lying to her and it fell logically in her mind. Why would James Potter admit to the Head Girl that him and his friends had blown up toilets on the second floor?

After an hour or so of working tirelessly on her Herbology essay she felt something hit her head lightly. She looked up and saw a floating teapot of all things. The teapot was small and would easily fit into the palm of her hand. It was made with white porcelain and Lily suspected that someone had nicked it from the Divination classroom. She plucked it out of the air and set it on the desk in front of her. The levitation charm it possessed immediately stopped working as soon as she had touched it. Odd.

Lily continued on with her essay for Herbology but found herself stealing glances at the little teapot. It was peculiar, it had a blue tinge to it and Lily thought the spout could almost pass as the nose of a small mouse.

When the bell rang for lunch, the library filled with other students and Lily huffed at the whispers and little noises the other students made. Lily was putting away a book titled _Poisonous Beans_ by Taylor Burt when she saw Potter. He was staring at a quill with so much focus he hadn't even heard Lily walk into his aisle. Without muttering a single word, James tapped the quill with his wand and it transformed into a small yellow canary.

Lily smiled slyly, impressed, as the canary fluttered around the aisle. James followed the bird and a look of surprise came over his face when he saw Lily with the huge book in her arms. Potter hissed, "What?" at her and she replied, "Nothing," coolly, before placing the book back in its correct spot and then walked away, smirking slightly at the fact that he was still wearing a beanie.

Lily packed her things, including the teapot and then headed to the common room. She was halfway to the Gryffindor Tower when she realised she should probably return Professor Vates' teapot. She turned and detoured to the North Tower, climbing all the way to the top and up the trap door where she found Professor Vates sitting at his desk. All the windows were open, blowing thing white curtain about breezily and Lily enjoyed how airy the room was.

"Miss Evans, how can I help you?" he said surprised. Lily had never taken Divination.

"Hello, sir," she greeted, "I think I found one of your teapots in the library. I've just come to return it." Lily dug around in her bag for a moment before pulling out the blue teapot.

Professor Vates peered at the teapot, "I'm afraid you've made the trip for nothing. I don't have any missing teapots. But thank you, Miss Evans."

"Are you sure?"

"Positively," he assured her and Lily frowned. She stuck the teapot back into her bag before leaving the classroom and heading back to the common room. But curiosity got the better of her and she pulled the teapot back out of her bag once again, and inspected it as she walked.

She pulled her wand out, tapped the teapot with it and said, _"Specialis revelio!"_ Nothing happened.

"Lily!" someone shouted and before Lily even turned around she recognised the voice of her best friend Marlene. Lily shoved the teapot back into her bag. "Where have you been?" Marlene caught up to Lily and looped her arm around Lily's.

"I went to the library. Finished the essay for Professor Postumus."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "So much for meeting us in the common room! We've been looking all over for you!"

"I was just coming. Why? What's wrong?" Lily asked curiously.

"Well Alice is a bit angry," Marlene said. Alice Vance was a petite girl with shoulder length brown hair and she was a little dramatic at times. Alice shared the same dormitory as Marlene, Ella, Lily and then of course there was Adaline Bennett who was a bit more boy-like than the rest of them. Adaline had a sturdy build and Lily suspected it was because Adaline had been playing Quidditch ever since she was old enough to understand the rules.

"What's happened? Ella hasn't caused trouble has she?"

"How did you know?" Marlene asked, a sparkle in her blue eyes and Lily rolled her own. Alice the most girly person Lily knew and Ella who saw material things as unnecessary. Of curse they'd always fight. It had been that way since day one.

"What happened?" Lily repeated.

"Well Ella was cleaning stuff off the vanity and threw away all of Alice's make-up and now Alice will have to buy new ones and she's insisting that Ella pay for the replacements and she obviously refuses saying that Alice shouldn't have left her stuff in the bathroom."

"Oh for heavens sake," Lily muttered. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Why can't they act mature for once? Now they're going to be avoiding each other for the rest of the night and it's only our second night back!"

"Good luck," Marlene said. "They've been trying to find you so you can break the tie on who should sleep in the common room."

"No one's sleeping in the common room! Galloping gargoyles!" Lily said crossly. "It's only make-up."

"Yeah but last year Ella threw out Alice's Elora Prinstine posters and her favourite scarf – you remember the dark green thing she had, it was actually quite ugly – but yeah," Marlene shrugged.

They walked back up to the common room where they gave the password to the Fat Lady ("Mimwimble") and at once Alice and Ella both tried to plead their case to Lily.

"That's enough! All of you! Ella stop being so insensitive and Alice stop taking everything so seriously-"

"I'm not sleeping in the same room as her!" Alice shouted interrupting Lily. "Not until she stops throwing away my things!"  
"Merlin, Alice, you'd think Ella cursed your family! No one is sleeping in the common room and that's final. Grow up. The lot of you!"

Lily stopped any further comments on the matter with a steely glare before settling down in an armchair by the window and taking out the Transfiguration homework and attempted to turn a quill into a canary without speaking and grew increasingly frustrated when she could not produce a fully functioning live canary. _Potter could do it_ , a voice in the back of her mind teased and she told that voice to shut up.

—

At eight o'clock, Lily and James were summoned to Professor Dumbledore's office. The walk there was silent and their footsteps seemed to echo on the stone floor. When they reached the gargoyle that protected the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office, Lily murmured the password ("Sherbet lemon") and the gargoyle moved around in a slow spin and rose up high leaving a spiral staircase to walk up. James knocked on the wooden door and Professor Dumbledore told them to come in.

Professor Dumbledore's office was quite magnificent. It was perched in a circular tower and was filled with extraordinary things. Lily didn't know what to observe first, the large, orange and red phoenix or the golden globe of the Earth, it had red dots all over it and Lily would bet her hat that the dots signified a wizard community. Lily's eyes gazed around the office and she spotted the Sorting Hat sitting on top of a very high shelf. Lily looked up at the ceiling and smiled in delight when she saw that the ceiling looked like the night sky, but not their night sky. Green and pink glowed over them, seemingly rippling through the sky and Lily recognised them as the Northern Lights. Lily stared in amazement this being the closest thing she'd ever encountered of the Northern Lights apart from pictures.

Professor Dumbledore came out from behind a shelf filled with large, heavy books. Most of the spines featured ancient runes or truly gruesome names. Lily continued to look around and noticed all the portraits of the previous headmasters and headmistresses. They were sleeping but Lily thought she saw one open an eye.

"Ah, Lily! James!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "I assume the position of Head Boy came as a shock to you, James?"

James was a bit flustered and replied lamely, "Yeah, yeah. I guess it was."

"Before I run through your duties are there any concerns you wish to voice?"

Lily held her tongue because she felt like saying, "Well, Potter as Head Boy for one." But she didn't think Dumbledore would approve and it wasn't like Dumbledore was going to change his mind about James being Head Boy just because Lily didn't think it was the right choice. She held her tongue.

"None? Very well," Dumbledore said, "As you know as Head Boy and Girl you are to instruct the other prefects-"

"What if they rebel against us?" James asked and Lily felt like face-palming.

"In that case James, you can enlist the help of Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore said. "Moving on, you two will be helping the teachers decorate for Halloween, Christmas and Easter. I believe you have to report to Professor McGonagall and she'll decide who needs the most help this year, it's usually Hagrid or Professor Flitwick though. The Christmas trees can be quite tiresome to decorate, even with magic. I believe that you two will carry out your tasks responsibly and I urge you to remember that you are the student leaders and you must act so. As you know, the Heads Office is opposite the Prefect's Bathroom. It is only to be used for Head work and as such will be available to all Prefects, however, you do get to set the password, which must be changed monthly. You must schedule the patrols, ensure any detention or points taken slips are filled out correctly, _both_ of you must sign these slips or else it immediately becomes void. It is up to your discretion whether or not you agree with the reasons but I must insist on fairness and equality." Dumbledore glanced at them sternly.

Lily wondered how Dumbledore could make the position of Head Boy and Girl sound like the lives of the other students were in their hands.

Dumbledore mentioned a few more things and then bade them goodnight. Lily and James walked back down the stairs and started off for their common room.

"So what did you think?" James asked and Lily crossed her arms, not interested in talking to him.

"I think we should swap off on the schedules. So I'll do one week and then you do the next."

James agreed and they didn't speak for the rest of the walk until James muttered the password at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Lily jogged up the steps to her dormitory and fell onto her bed happily.

"How was the meeting then?" Marlene asked, flopping down next to Lily.

Lily shrugged, "Standard. Boring."

"Alice and Ella aren't-"

"Ahhhhhrgh!" Lily shouted as hot water spilled down her back. She jumped up shrugging her robes off, hissing at the sting of the hot water.

"Son of a banshee!" Marlene shouted. "Are you okay?"

Lily looked over her bed for the source of the hot water and saw the blue teapot hovering in the air. Lily snatched it out of the air and inspected it closely and then, "What's that?" Marlene asked pointing to the spout. Lily turned the teapot and read, _the game is so on. Buck up, Evans._ Lily vanished the teapot with her wand and gritted her teeth. James bloody Potter. Of course. Only he'd be creative enough to think of a damn tea pot.

"Don't worry about it," Lily told Marlene. "I'm going to go for a shower." It was a good time to think about how she'd get back at Potter. Perhaps she'd hit him with a bat-bogey hex but it just didn't seem punishment enough. She wanted it to be something that bothered him over an extended period of time — something where he couldn't be sure if he'd been hexed or whether he was slowly loosing his mind. Yes, Lily thought, the shower was the best time for thinking because that would take a while. How was Lily supposed to out smart a professional prankster?

—

Adaline wrung her robes whilst she waited. The castle was beautiful at this time of night, the windows lit up, silhouetted against the stars of the night. Adaline had been no stranger to pretty things in her life, whilst she wasn't too fussed with material things, she had always had the best of everything — gold jewellery, dragon hide boots and gloves, moleskin scarves, the best broom — it had been a side effect of being the youngest of three brothers. The watch on her wrist was proof of how much they loved to spoil her — it was gold plated with a faceted ruby face and sapphire clock hands.

She wondered what her brothers were doing now. They were all grown up now, the youngest brother being ten years older than Adaline and the oldest brother being fifteen years older than her. Adaline missed her two eldest brothers, Elijah and Ezra. They'd moved to New York pretty much straight away after Ezra had finished Hogwarts and they'd lived there ever since. She'd seen them a handful of times over the years, the odd Christmas or holiday over the summers, when Elijah got married, when Ezra got married, when Ezra and his wife Cheryl had a little baby boy, Alexi. Emmett was the only brother who refused to settle down, instead he travelled around, never staying in the same spot for longer than six months. Adaline loved his letters, he had such adventures — learning to fly dragons in Romania, travelling for three days to get to Atlantis, studying ancient Aztec magic in Peru and so much more.

Adaline checked said watched and noted that he was ten minutes late. She chewed her lip whilst hoping she hadn't been stood up. She forced herself not to jump to rash conclusions as it had only been ten minutes — maybe he was finishing up some last minute homework or maybe he was in the library and needed to drop his things in his dormitory.

She'd been surprised when two weeks into the school year, he asked her out. Adaline had always been pretty enough to be asked out occasionally but over the years she'd been known to get a reputation for being a little … prudish, which was just false. If Adaline had to pick a word to describe herself, she'd chose picky. But more to the point, she'd gotten that reputation so the dates usually rolled in in the second half of the year when the boys were getting a little desperate. Adaline didn't mind so much. She'd always believed when it came to love, it would happen without you even realising.

"Adaline! Sorry, I'm a little late," Thomas Plunkett walked towards her breathlessly. Adaline turned around, a smile on her face.

"You better have a good excuse, Tommy," Adaline joked.

Tommy smiled at her charmingly and Adaline saw the appeal in him. He was dreamy with dark blue eyes and wavy straw coloured hair, dimples in his cheeks and he looked strong and sturdy. He wasn't a boy. "I was trying to convince the house elves to give me a bottle of wine."

"Good excuse then," Adaline smiled, "Not that I mind, it's such a nice night."

"It is," he agreed, "Come on, I want to show you something."

He grabbed her hand and led her towards the boat house and Adaline thought she knew what he was up to but there was no way to be sure.

"Where are you taking me?" Adaline laughed as they rushed through the night, the breeze hitting their faces and cooling them down.

"Come on," he urged and they reached the door to the boat house. He tapped it with his wand quickly, the door springing open and they rushed in quickly.

"We aren't supposed to be in here," Adaline whispered.

He mimicked her and then said, "Get in the boat, Del."

Adaline chewed her lip torn between wanting to but, "What if a teacher sees us through the window?"

"So? Curfew hasn't passed yet."

"We're not supposed to use the boats."

"Live a little, Del. Get in the boat." He held his hand out towards her, beckoning for her to step into the bobbing boat.

Adaline considered and then relented. She used his hand for support as she stepped into the wooden boat and sat down on the bench. He followed in after her and sat opposite her, setting the wine on the floor. He tapped the boat with his wand and it lurched forwards, heading out to the lake.

"Do you do this with all the girls?" Adaline teased. Thomas hesitated and Adaline laughed, "You do!"

"We can go back if you want."

"No," Adaline said, "Let's stay. I haven't been on the lake since first year. It's nice." And it was. The castle loomed on top of them and then it was the pretty night sky and Adaline loved the night sky. Adaline pointed at an orange star in the sky, "That's Mars … and that's Saturn," she pointed out a bright dot in the sky on the opposite side to Mars and Thomas followed her line of vision.

"How do you tell if it's a planet or a star?"

"Stars blink, planets don't. See? There's Jupiter! Oh! And there's the Plough and then Polaris and …. There's Cassiopea."

"I take it you were good at Astronomy then?"

Adaline smiled, "I've always liked the night sky. When I was nine my brothers pitched in all together and got me a top of the range telescope — it's my favourite thing in the whole world. Since then, I've been hooked. Did you have a hobby growing up?"

"Sailing. I love the ocean. Here, the lakes the closest thing I've got to it."

"That's pretty cool. Different," Adaline noted. "I've never really heard of many — well, any — wizards that were into sailing."

Thomas shrugged, "I grew up by the sea in a rich muggle town right by the sea. My neighbour — muggle — introduced me to it."

"That's nice. I had muggle neighbours growing up too, but the kids ended up being muggle-born," Adaline frowned, "Maybe that doesn't count then. You remember Daniela from the year above us?

"Oh yeah, she was in Gryffindor too, right?"

"Yeah. How about we pop open that wine?" Adaline suggested and Thomas complied. "Don't let me get too lush though. I'll start talking nonsense. My brother always says I can't hold my liquor, but I've been practicing."

Thomas chuckled, "That's good to know." He handed her a glass full of sparkling drink. "I didn't know you had a brother. There weren't any Bennetts in the year above us."

Adaline nodded, "Not that you'd know. My brothers and I are separated by a ten year age gap."

"Brothers?"

"I have three. Two live in New York and the other travels around. You've got a sister in fifth year, right?"

"Yeah, Jenny. She's all right, I guess."

The date went on in the same fashion and by the end of the night, they shared a shy kiss that was nothing to brag about in front of the Fat Lady and he asked her on another date.

—

Ella didn't like many things — at least that's what she liked to pretend. In reality, deep inside her own mind, she liked quite a lot of things. For instance, she liked not being in Potions. The room was always humid, the windows always shut less a wind interfere with the brewing of a Potion that would probably never be used and Professor Slughorn's bubbling personality to those in the Slug Club was downright annoying and offensive to those who weren't in the Slug Club. Ella was one of the few who were in the Slug Club so she knew firsthand just how annoying Professor Slughorn's personality was. So when Ella found herself in the Potions room on a hot Thursday afternoon, she spent the first half of it thinking of things she'd rather be doing. The list was quite simple really. She'd rather be doing _anything_ that consisted of her _not_ being in the Potions classroom. But, alas, fate would not heed her wishes and because she wasn't listening and her friends were traitors she'd been rather abruptly forced to partner up with Michael Putley. Her mood diminished further when Slughorn announced that they would be doing an assignment with their partners.

"This is just fan-fucking-tastic," Ella muttered.

"Bad day, Dearborn, or am I just naturally repelling?" Putley asked and Ella rolled her eyes.

"Both."

"Fair enough." He scribbled something onto his parchment in a messy scrawl, a brown lock falling into his eyes. "So what potion do you want to research?"

"Research?" Ella asked dryly. Her mood diminishing even further.

"Unfortunately. Glad to know I'm not the only one who hates theory assignments."

"Don't know what's worse," Ella agreed, "Slughorn's assignments or his parties."

Michael laughed, "Tough call. Maybe it's a tie?"

"Maybe," Ella agreed and Michael slid over the list of potions they could chose from to research. After debating which potion would be the easy to research as well as not a soft option that it would cost them marks, Ella was quite relieved that she'd at least been stuck with another Sluggie because if you were a Sluggie, you were somewhat adept at Potions and you definitely weren't stupid and Michael was proving both of those things.

"Great," Ella concluded when the bell rung, "So we can both start researching. If I do the analysis on the ingredients and their properties part and the effect of the completed potion, can you do the introduction and the three major ways the potion is brewed incorrectly and how that affects the potion?"

"Easy," he agreed. "Next Thursday, after Potions want to head to the library together to see what we've got and maybe together we can start the impact the potion has had on society?"

"Yes, that's perfect," Ella grinned happily. If they ket going at this rate the assignment would be over before dinner next Thursday and that meant that instead of dragging the assignment out for three weeks, it would be over and done with, which meant Ella won't be stuck doing group work for the next three weeks. Ella liked _not_ doing group work. "So I'll see you around then. Bye."

She jumped up and walked over to Marlene and Lily. "I hope you know that you two are traitors for ditching me and forcing me to go outside my social circle."

"That's what you get when you day dream," Marlene hummed.

"You seemed pretty chummy with Putley anyways," Lily commented.

"We bonded over our mutual dislike of theory assignments or Slughorn's parties. I'd hardly call it chummy."

"Whatever you say," Lily shrugged, "Just telling you what I saw."

Annoyed, Ella bit back, "Oh, go ogle at Potter some more."

"Reeee-ooow," Marlene smirked, rolling the 'R'. "You're in a mood today."

"As long as she doesn't throw out anymore of Alice's things."

"I have never touched any of Alice's things," Ella denied which sent Marlene and Lily on a rant naming the list of things Ella had thrown out that happened to be Alice's.

"They bother me," Ella defended.

"Alice's Holyhead Harpies poster bothered you?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrows. "I don't think so. It's okay, Ella. We know why you do it … you wanna piss your mum off."

Ella glowered. Lily didn't understand. Sure, Lily had a bitch of a sister but Ella would rather sibling troubles over parental troubles any day.

"So what potion did you pick for the assignment?" Marlene changed the subject, sensing dangerous area.

—

After two weeks, James and Lily had fallen into a good routine on performing Head Boy and Girl duties with minimal contact between each other. They left notes for each other in the Heads Office, and Lily admitted, they both used Remus a lot to relay messages to each other. They had yet to actually patrol together, they had both avoided it, James usually patrolled with Remus and Lily found herself enjoying her patrols with Andrew Fortescue, the seventh year Hufflepuff prefect. She had never realised how kind he was and as Marlene and Alice had pointed out he was good looking with bright, blue eyes, short brown curls and a sizzling jaw line. They always found it funny how tall Andrew was, he was a good head and a half taller than Lily — he was even taller than Potter!

Lily had stayed thoroughly on top of all of her homework and Professor Slughorn had given her essay on Hopkins law an 'O' (Outstanding). Lily had been so pleased that she gave Professor Slughorn a fishbowl with a white flower floating on the top. She had enchanted the flower to turn into a goldfish. Slughorn had been so surprised and Lily laughed lightly at the Professor's claims that she was one of the best in the year and then proceeded to name Lily's beautiful fish, Francis. Lily swore it was the last time she ever gave that Professor anything and in her mind renamed the fish to Pebbles.

Their classes had become slightly harder than last year's N.E.W.T work and the homework load had definitely increased, it didn't help that Lily and James were trying to one up each other at every turn. Lily had hexed James with a _Confused Bruise_ spell, which basically meant James would wake with a bruise or two that he couldn't remember getting. It was amusing when on the twelfth day, Potter had stormed up to her in the common room and demand she take the hex off him.

"I'm not playing around, Evans," he's said.

"I've no idea what you are on about, Potter," Lily responded, but on the inside, she was smirking.

"Don't play dumb," he hissed, "I'm getting all these random bruises! I know it was you!"

"I think I'd remember giving you bruisers, Potter, and if you're referring to that rather unfortunate hickey on your neck, it definitely wasn't me. Why don't you go take it up with Helena Bonham?"

Potter flushed and pulled his collar up to hide the hickey Lily's hex had caused and stormed away. Lily smirked for a good five minutes, before she could continue her Arithmancy problems. But of course, a day had barely passed before James got Lily back. She'd been practicing on conjuring a live canary — she'd mainly grasped the concept, though the bird could be cuter — when James conjured a bloody pigeon and made it sit on her head for over an hour. She got pooped on five bloody times and her bloody canary hadn't become any cuter, thanks to James bloody Potter.

Despite, their feud though, Lily was keeping up reasonably well. Charms and Potions had always come naturally to her and she was rather good at Defence Against the Dark Arts as a lot of it required defensive charms, which she was good at. Herbology was a breeze for anyone with a brain, you just had to pay attention and listen to the instructions. Arithmancy, whilst hard, was doable. Her biggest problem was Transfiguration. Last year she'd been averaging an 'Acceptable' bordering 'Exceeds Expectations'. This year, she planned to pull her marks up to a full 'Exceeds Expectations'. Her aim was 'O's and 'E's for every subject.

"Now today we'll be learning how to conjure large animals," McGonagall said, "I want all of you to try and conjure a cat."

Lily groaned internally. The damn canary had been hard enough but Lily listened intently on how the spell was to be performed and asked an awful amount of questions but try as she might Lily could only conjure a life-like statue of a cat that could meow. It reminded Lily of dead animals that have been stuffed and treated to remain life like in muggle museums. Lily wasn't the only one though. Marlene couldn't conjure anything except a few loose bits of fur and Adaline managed a couple of whiskers. Even James and Sirius couldn't conjure an entire, functioning cat, though Sirius did manage a cat that could move, it was stiff and looked like a robotic toy.

McGonagall looked down on the class, "For homework, practice! Next lesson I will mark your attempt! I also want a twelve-inch essay on the problems of conjuring. You may go."

The class filed out and moved onto their next two classes until they ended up at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Scrivens was a middle aged woman and in Lily's opinion she may have fought off one too many dark wizards and witches because the lady was as batty as a house elf. Marlene reckoned she's obsessed with defending against the dark arts but Lily just thinks this woman has lost her marbles. Professor Scrivens had long, scruffy honey coloured hair and Lily wondered when the last time Professor Scrivens got a haircut was. She didn't wear robes like a normal witch or wizard, she said they were too restricting and distracting in a battle, instead she wore a loose coat and jeans. Lily couldn't see how jeans were less constricting than robes.

On the first day the batty professor told the class a story about how she'd fought off a dark wizard and that was how her two fingers were sliced off by a dark curse. That was when Lily started to doubt the professor's sanity because the entire class looked at Professor Scrivens hands and saw ten perfectly normal fingers. Nevertheless, Professor Scrivens had proved a sufficient enough teacher and, like all the other professors, provided a tremendous amount of homework after every lesson.

"Sit, sit class. Hurry up," she barked. "Now you're probably all wondering how I've survived my years in the Auror office and I can assure you that no matter what spells and curses you know, it is your reflex and ability to perform spells non-verbally that will save you. So I want everyone to pair up and you are all going to duel. I don't want any stunning!" she ordered. "That's for next week. You are all to duel, however if I hear a single mutter of a spell you are out. The aim is to not get hexed or jinxed. You are to block silently and hex silently. Out of the pair, the one who is hexed or jinxed first looses. The winner is to find another winner and duel them until we are left with one pair. The winner of the final duel will win twenty house points along with a rather fattening bag of Honeyduke's sweets."  
Lily first paired up with Marlene and having practiced non-verbal spells all summer, Lily was confident she would win. After only a few minutes Lily thought, " _Flipendo!"_ a streak of light came out of Lily's wand and knocked Marlene over. Lily smiled apologetically as Marlene dusted herself off.

"Adams, out!" Professor Scrivens announced, "Take a seat. Evans duel with … Vance!"

Lily fought with Alice and Alice, who was very good a D.A.D.A, was a much harder opponent. It took ten minutes to finally curse Alice who got an extremely runny nose. Professor Scrivens sent her to Madam Pomfrey. Lily looked around and saw that only half the class remained. Lily duelled next with Rosalie Parker and won in only three minutes.

"Lupin and Evans!" Professor Scrivens announced.

Lily and Remus Lupin duelled for so long that by the time their duel ended there was only one other pair: James Potter and Sirius Black. Their duel ended when Sirius' hair fell off his head. The class laughed at his bald head and again Professor Scrivens sent him to Madam Pomfrey to get it sorted out but Sirius refused saying he wanted to see who won.

"Very well! The last duel of the lesson! Evans! Potter! You're up!"

James and Lily stood a couple of metres away from each other, bowed and James said, "Good luck, Evans."

"Won't need it," Lily assured him coldly and the duel begun. Lily deflected many of James' hexes before she managed to throw one at him. He deflected it easily and Lily shot another bat-bogey hex at him but he deflected and sent a hex flying at Lily. She deflected his jelly-fingers curse and threw a jelly-legs curse at him waving her wand furiously. The exchange of sending and deflecting curses went on for more than fifteen minutes and Lily was starting to get a bit breathless whilst James had a look of utter determination. Lily sent two melofors jinxes one after the other with barely a two second gap. James deflected the first jinx but wasn't quick enough to deflect the second. The class roared with laughter as his head became encased in a pumpkin.

Lily filled with pride at having beat James Potter in a duel and did not feel guilty for one second about trapping his head in a pumpkin. At least the pumpkin reflected the true size of Potter's head.

"And Evans wins!" Professor Scrivens announces. "Twenty points to Gryffindor and take the bag off my desk when you leave class today. Anyone who has been jinxed head over to Madam Pomfrey so she can sort you all out." She was looking oddly at Sirius' bald head but it didn't seem to affect him at all.

"I can't see a thing!" a muffled voice screamed and Lily laughed before Sirius performed the counter-jinx and the pumpkin popped out of existence.

James stared at her and Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "Stop staring before I put your head in a pumpkin again." James looked abruptly away and Lily rejoined conversation with her friends, stealing a glance at Potter. His stare hadn't been angry or bitter, it had been … no, she shook her head, she'd been imagining it.

But she hadn't. That night at dinner, Lily had been treated like a hero because she had won a duel against James Potter and her friends kept making terrible jokes about pumpkins. Lily couldn't help herself though, she had glanced at James only to find he'd been staring at her, his expression unreadable. He abruptly looked away, getting up and leaving the Great Hall. Lily frowned. He should be trying to get her back. Why was he looking at her like _that_?

After that, Lily found it hard to concentrate on anything so she excused herself and left only to be pulled into a broom closet on the fifth floor.

"Potter?" she asked. She couldn't see a damn thing. She pulled her wand out and thought, _lumos_ , and her wand lit up. "What?"

James didn't say anything he just looked at her but words were on the tip of his tongue, he just had to say it. "I — congratulations, for winning."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "That's it? You pulled me into a broom closet to congratulate me for beating you?"

"Well, I don't think you'd be pleased with what I really wanted to say," James said softly, and his eyes flickered down to her lips for a moment.

Lily, aware of the small space they were in and completely oblivious, said, "And what would that be? That you set all the detention slips on fire?"

"I - what? No! Argh, just forget it." James opened the door and walked out leaving Lily in the closet.

—

James watched from across the Common Room as she helped Adaline with her Charms essay. In the past two weeks, James had found their little competition fun. He had reasons to talk to her and her little smirk when she'd successfully gotten the better of him was absolutely adorable. James knew exactly why he was coming around to Lily again. He was scared. He'd overheard her and her mates talking about Andrew Fortescue the other night and when he'd looked at the patrol schedules, he noticed that they patrolled together _all the bloody time_ and something fell in James because he knew that if she were to start dating, he'd lose her. He'd completely lose her and the thought of that made his stomach flip. He didn't want those two months to be the only thing to ever transpire between him and the pretty red head.

He'd tried to talk to her after dinner, had snagged her into a broom closet even but he'd wanted to use words and his words had failed him. He'd been on the verge of saying it. Of telling her he missed her but just as they were about to come out, he realised how stupid he'd have sounded, so instead he congratulated her like a moron. And he was a moron for ever letting her go in the first place. Lily Evans was unforgettable for a reason. No, she wasn't perfect or beautiful beyond words. She was stubborn and had freckles and perhaps red wasn't the best hair colour but she was unforgettable because she was Lily freaking Evans. What more needed to be said? James was a moron for ever thinking he could even forget Lily. No one could forget Lily.

He watched from across the Common Room as she perfected her conjuring of a cat and found his lips twitching into a smile when she squealed with happiness when she produced a perfect white cat. How could stubbornness be a flaw, when it brought her such achievement? She'd been practicing that spell since she entered the Common Room three hours prior, only breaking to help Adaline occasionally with her essay.

"Prongs, you going to join us or are you just going to keep ogling at Evans the whole night?" Sirius asked and James pulled his eyes away from Lily.

"I wasn't ogling. She conjured a cat was all."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "So? We did that during lunch." This time Remus rolled his eyes.

"I didn't," Peter chimed with a small frown and Sirius rolled his eyes again.

"It's alright, Wormtail, I'll help you," James assured him.

James glanced back at Lily who was smiling brightly as Dearborn told her something. "There you go ogling again," Sirius said snapping his fingers in front of James' face. "What's gotten into you? I thought you were over her?"

"I am," James agreed, though he sounded as convincing as Pinnochio.

"Sure," Remus said, "And I'm in love with Peter."

James threw a scrunched up piece of parchment at Remus, who deflected it with his hand.

—

Lily had just finished reading over Alice's Transfiguration essay and had handed it back, having circled some areas that could use work. Alice frowned at it.

"Expand on all those points and you should be alright," Lily told her. "Have you practiced the spell yet?"

"I tried before," Alice said glumly, "I'm never going to get it right. Birds were a piece of cake compared to this."

Lily laughed, she somehow had managed to get a hang of the cat quicker, "Do you remember Adaline's birds? They went rogue and attacked the class! I don't think McGonagall's ever been so displeased in her life. Poor Adaline she got a detention because of that."

"Yes! I've still got a bloody scar on my arm," Alice exclaimed and Lily laughed even more. "Are you coming to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"I don't know, I spent a lot at Diagon Alley when I went and I won the bag of Honeyduke's sweets so I think I'm set until at least next week."

"Not sick of the castle yet?"

"How can anyone ever get sick of the castle? Everything bloody moves every other day. Yesterday, I got to McGonagall's class by a staircase near a statue of Salazar Slytherin, today I found the statue but the staircase was gone! I was almost late."

"The castle's funny like that," Alice wrinkled her nose. Then she put her head down and started working on her essay whilst Lily, with nothing better to do, snuck a look at James. He was laughing about something with his friends and it being so late in the night all he wore were a pair of flannel pyjama pants and a white t-shirt. There should be a rule against that, Lily thought, as she couldn't seem to pull her eyes away from him.

The events from earlier in the night flooded her mind and she knew that he hadn't really wanted to congratulate her, but she did wonder about what he had really wanted to say, if he'd really wanted to say anything to her. Maybe he was planning on pranking her. Maybe that was the prank. It was a stupid one, if it was a prank. It had accomplished absolutely nothing. Lily hadn't even felt pranked. Lily concluded that it was decidedly not a prank because this was James Potter in question, the mastermind of pranks — well, at least a quarter of the mastermind of pranks. She glanced over at the Marauders, catching James throwing a scrunched up piece of parchment at Remus who blocked it with his hand.

—

Adaline shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Marlene asked, putting her quill down.

"Lily and Potter. They keep staring at each other."

"I bet you five galleons that they bang this year," Ella piped.

Marlene considered, "You're on. There's no way them two will be civil enough to each other that they'll end up banging."

"To be honest, I'm still surprised that all their flirting last year didn't end up with the two of them snogging in a broom closet."

"And civility has nothing to do with sexual tension," Adaline pointed out. Marlene and Ella both peeked a glance at Lily and James who were still stealing glances at each other every so often.

"I think Lily's scared to want him," Marlene concluded. "After all that's happened between him and Snape and Lily still feels loyal to him even if they aren't friends anymore."

"Snape's an arse."

"Potter can be one too if he wants to," Ella shrugged. "I still think they'll bang this year. It's inevitable."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Maybe," she allowed. "What about you?" Marlene asked Ella.

"What about me?"

"Michael Putley."

"What about him?" Ella asked annoyed.

Adaline and Marlene shared a look. "You two got awfully cozy during Potions."

"Haven't we already been over this?"

"Yes," Marlene said and Ella was momentarily relieved but Marlene opened her mouth again, "But I want to revise it."

Ella's rolled her eyes. "Er, I'm going to turn in." Ella quickly packed away her materials and headed for the stairs, not bothered to listen to Marlene and Adaline going on about something that was non-existent.

"Of course you are," Adaline smirked, "We're not letting you off the hook that easily, Dearborn!"

"What about your date with Plunkett last night?" Marlene asked but Adaline shrugged.

"There wasn't any sparks."

Marlene laughed, "You say that with every guy you go out with. Are you a lesbian?"

Adaline glared at her. "I just, I don't know. Maybe I'm too picky but if it's love, shouldn't it be exciting?"

"Well, what happened last night?"

Adaline sighed, "Nothing bad, I guess but it just it was mediocre. He took me out on the lake with a bottle of wine he coerced from the house elves. We talked. He kissed me goodnight in front of the Fat Lady and that was it. He wants to go on another date though but I don't know."

"Go," Marlene insisted.

"But he-"

"No! You always do this! You go on one date, you say it was mediocre and that's it. Just try. Besides, he took you out on the lake! How is that a mediocre date? I would love to go out on the lake! And he stole a bottle of wine for you! That was so _not_ a mediocre date."

"He's not the one, though."

"Del, we're seventeen we aren't supposed to find _the_ one, we're just supposed to find someone. Give Tommy another chance. I hear he's an excellent kisser."


	5. Chapter 4: Dumbledore's Secret Guests

Marlene slipped into the seat next to Nate who glanced up from a letter.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey, is that from your mum?" Marlene asked.

Nate nodded, "Felicia is getting married over the Easter break. She's set a date."

"Ohh, I'm so excited for her," Marlene smiled. "Oh, I wanted to ask if you wanted to meet up in Hogsmeade on the weekend? It's the first trip and all."

Nate hesitated, "I have a date but maybe if it finishes early."

"Who do you have a date with?" Marlene asked but Nate didn't get a chance to answer, which he was quite glad for, as Lily plopped down in the seat opposite them her hair a dark brown colour. "What in the name of Merlin happened to your hair?"

"Marlene, help me!" Lily pleaded, "Please!"

"But what happened? You're not still feuding with Potter are you?" Marlene smirked at Lily's distress. "I don't know why you two don't just get it over with and shag in a broom closet. You wouldn't be the first."

"Marlene!" Lily insisted.

"All right, all right," Marlene hushed her, grabbing her wand out of her pocket.

"You are an odd looking brunette," Nate commented.

" _Thanks_ ," Lily said dryly. "Bloody Potter."

"What're you going to do to get him back?" Marlene asked.

"Less questions, more fixing," Lily demanded.

"Son of a banshee! What happened to your hair!" Alice exclaimed sitting down next to Lily. "I didn't even recognise you."

"Marlene," Lily whined.

"I'm trying!"

"She's still feuding with Potter," Nate told Alice.

"Ahh. How're you going to get him back this time?"

"Lily, the spell has anti-anti-jinxes on it. You'll need to go to Pomfrey or just wait for the spell to wear out."

"Wait for it to wear out? Marlene, my hair is dark brown and my eyebrows are red!"

"Maybe we can change your eyebrows more brunette?" Marlene suggested.

Lily glared at her and Alice jumped in. "Come on, I'll come with you to Pomfrey."

As soon as the two were out of earshot Nate and Marlene bursted into laughter. "You know, I kind of hope the feuding keeps going," Nate mused. "It's interesting.

Marlene giggled, "That's a word for it. Hilarious is more like it. Did you see when Lily spiked his firewhiskey stash with ageing potion?"

"Yes, it was quite amusing to see Black and Potter with beards and grey hair."

Marlene laughed, "It was my idea."

The bell rung signalling the start of the school day and they both jumped up, bags over their shoulders and headed out to the greenhouses. With the end of September, the first cool winds had started to hit the school and Marlene buttoned up her cloak as they went outside. Nate didn't bother though and Marlene asked, "Aren't you cold? You should put a cloak on."

"Stop nagging," he brushed her off and Marlene frowned.

"I'm not nagging."

"Yeah, you are. You're a nag," he told her matter-of-factly. "Have been since you could talk."

"Nathaniel McKinnon, you take that back!" Marlene demanded.

"Or what?" He sent her a wicked grin before darting off, Marlene close on his heels. She chased him all the way to the greenhouses where she finally managed to whack his arm.

"Or else that!" Marlene said proudly.

"What?" he said. "I didn't feel anything."

Marlene whacked him harder just as Professor Postumus walked by. "Adams, five points from Gryffindor! We do not hit other students. Everyone inside!"

"I hate you," Marlene hissed, as they headed into the stuffy greenhouses.

"Hate you, too."

"Hey, you never said who your date was with?" Marlene remembered as they sat at a table.

"Oh, er, well-"

"Come on, she can't be that bad!"

"Settle down everybody!" Professor Postumus demanded, "Get your textbooks out to page ninety-three!"

With that the lesson had started and Nate had once again been let off the hook about answering Marlene's question.

—

Marlene, Ella and Lily were all in Defence Against the Dark Arts when Lily had let slip that she didn't think she'd be going down to Hogsmeade this weekend. She just didn't feel like going. She wasn't some little thirteen year old girl who got excited over trips to Hogsmeade anymore. Besides, Potter would be going down to Hogsmeade and she was doing her best to avoid him.

"I can't believe you're not coming Hogsmeade with us!" Marlene huffed furiously. "It's your last first Hogsmeade trip ever!"

Lily knew Marlene had a point but Hogsmeade would be there next week and the week after, in fact the amazing thing about a town was that it was there all year round every year. Professor Scrivens seventeen-inch essay on Dark Creatures due on Monday however, would not and Lily had barely started.

"I told you, I don't need to go," Lily said for the tenth time.

"Oh, come on Lily! Hogsmeade won't be the same without you!" Ella persisted and Lily smiled.

"Are you trying to flatter me?"

"Is it working?"

"No."

Ella groaned frustratedly.

"Miss Dearborn, is everything all right? You seem rather tense for someone who is meant to be thinking of happy thoughts," Professor Scrivens said and Lily sniggered.

"Sorry, professor," Ella muttered and then muttered to Lily, "You know what would make me happy? You coming to Hogsmeade."

"So now it's my fault that you can't produce a patronus charm?"

"Of course it is!" Alice intervened, leaning back on her chair to talk to them. "You should be ashamed of yourself Lily!"

Lily scowled. "Are you all just going to gang up on me?"

"Yes," they all chorused, even Ella, and Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She'd expected this from the other three but she had expected Ella to stay perfectly impartial but Ella had joined in on their side right from the beginning. Usually Ella wasn't one to fuss on about this stuff but it seemed that even Ella agreed that Lily should attend the Hogsmeade trip with them.

"In that case I'm going to go and practise the spell with Daisy and Allison so I can actually concentrate!"

With that, Lily snatched up her books and quill and moved across the room in the spare seat next to Allison. The only downfall was that the spare seat next to Allison was also the spare seat next to Potter but he seemed very focused in a conversation with his mates and Lily doubted he would even notice her. She avoided him and greeted Allison brightly. Lily was determined to produce a corporeal patronus by the end of the lesson however she kept getting distracted by Potter's absolute disturbing behaviour. By disturbing, she meant wafts of their conversation that were loud enough for Lily to hear and the occasional accidental brush of elbows that would cause an odd feeling in her stomach.

"No one's going to find out," James insisted and Lupin urged him to keep his voice down. "Oh take a calming potion. It's just a furry little problem. Nothing we can't handle. Besides I'm Head Boy, I'll just say I excused you from the meeting or that McGonagall did. It's not a big deal."

"Keep your voice down, Prongs!" Pettigrew said nervously as he noticed Lily was within hearing range.

Lily didn't end up producing her Patronus charm thanks to Potter … again. Lily wondered what 'furry little problem' stood for and why it was so important that no one find out. It seemed to have something to do with Remus and the next Prefects meeting. It sounded like Remus had wanted to skive and James was going to help him, a thought that didn't comfort Lily at all and if James did cover for Remus, he was going to hear an earful from her, whether she was avoiding him or not.

"Over your sook, are you?" Adaline asked and Lily sulked.

"I wasn't sooking! I just wanted to be able to do the charm so I wouldn't have to practice for homework."

"Yeah well, you failed," Adaline deadpanned and Lily smiled forcibly at Adaline.

"Thanks, Della. I wasn't aware."

"It's okay, Lily, you'll get there," Marlene assured.

Alice snorted, "Just because you managed to get your patronus up! That great big lion wondering around the classroom."

"Oh, just because you didn't get a corporeal patronus up doesn't mean you have to be bitter about mine," Marlene snapped before turning to Lily. "So have you changed your mind then?"

"I'll tell you what," Lily said smiling mischievously. "If McGonagall doesn't give us homework, I'll go."

Her friends protested at once, "That's so unfair! McGonagall _always_ gives out homework!"

"Oh well," Lily shrugged delightfully at her clever plan as they made their way into McGonagall's classroom. However, Lily's smug face turned worried when she saw Professor McGonagall's grim face under the brim of her large, emerald, pointed hat.

"Is everything okay, Professor?" Lily asked tentatively, approaching the Professor.

"I'm afraid not," the Professor said and Lily waited for McGonagall to continue. "A terrible accident has occurred and all classes have been cancelled. Everyone is to go to their common rooms and Lily, tonight I suspect the prefect meeting will be changed to urgent or it may even be cancelled. You must make sure all the prefects know of the possible changes. Tell Potter, will you?"

"Of course, Professor … is there any homework?"

Professor McGonagall peered down at Lily and she felt as small as a bean. "In times like these Evans, homework should be the last thing on your mind. Now, up to your Common Rooms! All of you!" she barked and Lily and her friends scarpered off rather quickly.

"Ha! She didn't set homework! You have to come to Hogsmeade!" Marlene said gleefully before turning serious, "I wonder what's happened though."

"It seemed really serious," Lily said worriedly, "I've never seen McGonagall so … worried."

"Lily! Someone shouted and Lily turned around to see Severus Snape running towards her. "Why aren't you in your common room?!" he asked as though it was a crime for Lily to be walking in the corridors.

"I was just headed there."

"What's it to _you_ what Lily does anyways?" Adaline asked meanly and Lily shot her a look. Adaline shot her one back.

"Haven't you heard? A, a mudblood has been attacked," he said looking alarmed, his eyes wide in fright. Lily's eyes widened in surprise for two reasons. The first, a muggle-born attacked in Hogwarts? How was something like that even possible? The second, the casual way ' _mudblood_ ' had so easily fell out of Severus' mouth.

"Who was it?"

"Charlotte Rogers, they found her with her … with her throat slit."

"She died?!" Marlene shouted in surprise and Lily shushed her as people started to look at them curiously. They shouldn't start a panic before they really knew what had happened.

"No, but she almost did. They're saying another minute or so and she would've become brain dead. She's in the Hospital Wing, they're waiting for her to wake up," Snape told them, "Professor Flitwick found her just in time, healed the cut before she could loose anymore blood and took her up to Madam Pomfrey. You should go to your common room, Lily. Where you're safe."

"Right because I'm a filthy, little mudblood," Lily said bitterly. "Afraid Avery or Aitkens will get me too?"

"Lily," Alice gasped, "Don't even say something like that!"

Lily grabbed Alice and Adaline and started pulling them away from Severus. "Come on," she mumbled and the rest of her friends followed. Severus was left in the corridor watching the girl he could once call friend walk away from him as though he was the enemy.

—

The Marauders sauntered into their Defence class and sat at a row of tables and Remus finally told them what had been bothering him today.

"I don't think I can do the prefect thing anymore," he said unhappily and James raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is this because you're going to miss that meeting tonight?"

Remus looked down and didn't answer which gave James all the answers he needed and James rolled his eyes.

"Moony, how many times have we told you!" Sirius said, "No one cares about-"

"Shh!" Remus said and Sirius stopped talking. "Aren't you at least going to try to practice the charm?"

"Remus, it'll be fine. I'll cover for you. No one's going to notice," James insisted and added, "Nah, dad taught me the charm in the holidays. It was a stag of course."

Remus took in the last bit of information before returning to the matter at hand.

"But how do you know? What if Lily keeps scheduling meetings for the," he mouthed 'full moon'. Peter shouted, "Expecto Patronus!" and James sighed and told him that it was 'Patronum' not 'Patronus' before turning back to Remus.

"You know, I am Head Boy and I do get a say in when the meetings are held and I'll make sure she doesn't. No one's going to find out," he insisted and Lupin urged him to keep his voice down. "Oh take a calming potion. It's just a furry little problem. Nothing we can't handle. Besides I'm Head Boy, I'll just say I excused you from the meeting or that McGonagall did. It's not a big deal."

"Yes, it is!" Remus hissed. "Snape is a prefect and you know he'll make a big deal about me being gone! He always does," he added glumly and James fought the urge to hex the little shit right then.

"I can handle Snape," James said instead.

"Oh, you should try this new hex I read about," Sirius started but Remus silenced him with a stern look.

"Look, Moony, you've nothing to worry about. There are so many prefects that I doubt anyone will even notice."

"It does help that there are technically two Seventh Year Gryffindor Prefects," Peter added, "What with James getting Head Boy. I doubt anyone will even notice." James looked at Peter oddly. He didn't think telling Remus that his absence won't even be noticed was the best tact. He may as well have told Remus he was a wallflower.

"Look, Moony. Don't worry about the meeting tonight. It's just one, stupid meeting and like I said, I can handle Evans and Snape."

Remus still looked glum and Professor Scrivens dismissed the class as they started to pack up their things and left the room.

They were walking to Transfiguration however they ran into Lily much to James dislike. He'd been trying to avoid her after the almost word-vomit that ended up coming out as something as moronic as ' _Congratulations, for winning_ '. He'd wanted to be buried in a hole guarded by a dragon ever since. Not to mention that his friends — well Remus and Sirius — were starting to pick up on it, whatever _it_ was.

"The meeting tonight," Lily said breathlessly, "It might be cancelled but if they don't cancel it, it'll become urgent which means everyone _needs_ to be there."

"What's happened?" Remus asked before James could.

"A, a muggle-born has been attacked."

James was shell-shocked. A muggle-born attacked?

"Where?" he asked and Lily told them that the attack had happened in Hogwarts on the fourth floor corridor, in front of the Charms classroom. The muggle-born was a fourth-year Hufflepuff by the name of Mia Scott.

"That's horrible," Peter exclaimed as though the rest didn't know the nature of the events.

"Here, in Hogwarts," Sirius tsked, "Who would be ballsy enough to pull that off? Dumbledore will have them expelled by tomorrow."

"They've no idea who did it," Lily said. "Everyone was in class or in the library or common rooms. There weren't any witnesses. Professor Flitwick found her after a couple of seconds by mere chance but of course with Scott bleeding out he couldn't go searching for the attacker."

"You should get back to the common room," James said suddenly remembering that Lily was very much a muggle-born and the idea of a person attacking muggle-borns made James' stomach flip.

"Do you seriously think someone will attack me in a crowded corridor, Potter?" Lily asked him crossing her arms with her eyebrows raised. Her green eyes looked so doubtful and he knew she was right but…

"You never know. One Unforgivable curse flung across the corridor and poof, you're gone."

"That's a little morbid and slightly dramatic not to mention completely irrational and stupid."

More words he could add to lists of things James was. Morbid, dramatic, irrational, stupid and moron. Wonderful. How could Lily not fall for him?

"Call it what it is but it could still happen," Sirius shrugged. "One time my mum killed a house elf because he folded the linens wrong so when the poor elf least expected it she severed his head by throwing the knife skilfully across the kitchen. Everyone quite lost their appetite after that. Poor Deetus had to clean all of his brother's blood off the floor. Cried for days he did."

No one really knew what to say about Sirius's mother beheading a house elf at dinner and James just sort of flailed before patting Sirius' back once or twice. James knew how terrible Sirius had it at his parents house, it was why Sirius had moved in with them at the end of Fifth Year, but it was still a bit awkward when Sirius dropped gruesome stories like that.

"That's…horrible!" Lily exclaimed and Sirius nodded.

"Yep. So you should get back to the common room," James instructed.

"I've got to go tell the other prefects," Lily protested as James started dragging her towards the common room.

"I'll let them know," James said firmly. "You need to be safe."

"Oh, now you care about my safety?" she asked icily, "It didn't seem like that when you left me glued to a train and I had to burn my own leg just to be able to jump off in time!"

James was completely shocked at her outburst and Lily took that as her chance to wiggle out of his grip, he had been holding her arm quite tightly and ran away. In the opposite direction of the common room.

"Is that why she was late to the welcoming feast?" Remus asked and James didn't reply. He wasn't supposed to care about Lily Evans anymore. It would be so much simpler if he didn't care about her anymore.

—

That night the Prefect Meeting had been made urgent and all the Prefects sat around in an empty classroom waiting for Professor Dumbledore and the Heads of Houses. Lily noticed that Remus wasn't there and she went up to James.

"Where's Remus?"

"He's not feeling great," James replied.

"This meeting is _urgent_ someone was attacked."

"And Remus feels horrible for missing it, but lucky he's got the Head Boy as a roommate to catch him up on everything he missed."

"Don't play that, I heard you and your friends today," Lily stopped when James looked at her darkly.

"You heard nothing," he told her sharply. "If Professor Dumbledore has okayed Remus not being here, I don't see why it should bother you. Now why don't you just go off and flirt with Fortescue, like you always do, and stay out of my business?"

Lily shocked by his abruptness was left speechless. "I don't flirt with Fortescue," was her only brilliant response and James rolled his eyes.

"Sure you don't and I'm a hippogriff."

"Oh, just go snog Helena Bonham, why don't you?"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Don't talk to me!"

"I won't."

"Good."

Lily turned and purposely went to sit next to Andrew, just to piss James off, and a few minutes later, the meeting started. Dumbledore explained that since the attack, all patrols would be extended by an hour, so would be starting at 8pm and finishing at midnight, instead of eleven. There was a collective groan at that particular news, and Dumbledore smiled apologetically. He also told them that the Ministry was sending Aurors to help guard the school. After that news, Professor Flitwick stepped forward and taught all of them how to perform healing Charms should they ever find the need to use them.

"Better to be safe then sorry, Miss Keddle," Flitwick told the sixth year Hufflepuff when she questioned whether or not this was a bit morbid. "You learning these spells, might just save someone's life."

Lily got the hang of it quickly, easily healing the paper cuts she gave herself and Andrew looked at her frustrated. "How do you do it in one go? I have to say the spell like three times before the cut is completely gone."

Lily started to explain the theory to him again, and used her hand to move his in the correct movement. "If you go too fast or too slow, it won't work and you'll have to do it again," she explained to him. "Go on, try." She gave herself a paper cut and gestured for him to heal it. He only needed two tries to heal it completely. "Good job," she told him with a warm smile. She heard someone scoff from behind her and she turned to see Potter. "Problem?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"None at all," he said coolly.

Lily turned back to Andrew and smiled. "Come on, try again," she encouraged, giving herself another paper cut, "Practice makes perfect."

After an hour, the Professors announced the meeting over and Lily grabbed her bag and headed straight for the library. Curfew would end in an hour and she wanted to find a book to help her with Transfiguration.

—

Ella and Marlene sat in the Great Hall together talking quietly as they did some homework. The time being an hour to curfew, the Great Hall was empty and dimmed and personally, Ella loved it like this.

"So has Putley made a move on you yet?"

"No. And he's not going to." Even if he did. Ella was too much baggage. A guy like Putley didn't want a girl like Ella and Ella knew that so why should she bother to waste her time with him? Because he was ridiculously good looking. Because he was interested. Because he was funny and fun to talk to — his wit matched hers and he seemed to find her bluntness endearing rather than offending. Because she imagined he was a good kisser. Because she imagined that if they weren't completely incompatible with each other, they'd actually work rather well.

"I think he is."

"Well, I think he's not."

Marlene went quiet for a moment. "Nate has a date for Hogsmeade."

"So?"

"He won't tell me who. Do you think that's weird?"

"I think it's weird that you care."

"Nate and I are best friends. He should be able to tell me this stuff," Marlene insisted.

"I am your best friend. Nate is like your brother."

"I can have more than one best friend. And so even if Nate was like a brother, he should still be able to tell me."

"Okay so maybe he has feelings for you."

"Don't be ridiculous, he's like my brother."

Ella raised an eyebrow at her and Marlene sighed. "I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?"

"Extremely."

Marlene nodded and said, "Right. I just find it weird. Nate tells me everything — oh god, what if he's dating someone I hate? Like Polly Piggens or what if he's dating a Slytherin?"

Ella dropped her quill. "Marlene, stop. This is the thing that you do and it's incredibly annoying."

"I don't do a thing."

"Yeah, you do."

"What's the thing that I do?"

"The thing that you do is that you make a thing that isn't a thing, a thing."

"That made zero sense."

"Oh, it made perfect sense," Ella told her matter of factly. "You're just in denial. Nate will tell you when he grows a pair. Until then stop worrying about it and instead help me with this bloody Transfiguration homework."

"I could help you with Transfiguration."

The two girls jumped and whirled around in their seats. "Jesus, Putley! Give a girl a heart attack," Marlene muttered.

"Sorry, Adams," he smiled sheepishly. "I was looking for Ella actually."

"What's up?"

"I was hoping you'd have that book we checked out of the library last week for the Potions assignment. I need it for the ingredient list."

Ella nodded and fished it out of her bag. "You're lucky you found me. I was going to return it before I headed to my dormitory." She handed it to him.

"I could help you with transfiguration," he offered again.

"Marlene's got it covered," Ella smiled.

"Actually, I was going to turn in," Marlene smiled sweetly at Ella who sent daggers back. "I'll see you later." She gathered her materials, not bothering to put her books in her bag, opting to hold them instead and exited the Great Hall swiftly.

"I can go if you want," Michael suggested.

"You may as well stay. Marlene was my last hope of getting an E on this essay."

"I reckon I can get you an O," he assured her, taking Marlene's seat.

"We'll see," Ella said.

"Are you doubting me, Dearborn?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. I just think you're underestimating just how terrible I am at Transfiguration. I reckon my essay now is about a T."

"That bad," Michael grinned.

"Hey, don't grin! This is an emergency. Marlene was my last hope, now you are my last hope."

"Yes, ma'am. Well, let's give it a read then."

Ella slid over her essay and rested her head on the table only lifting it up when he coughed. She winced.

"Dearborn, you are tragically hopeless at Transfiguration." Ella groaned and hit her head against the table. "But luckily I am a whizz at Transfiguration and I will give your essay a very drastic make-over."

"You don't want to run for the hills?"

Michael laughed and Ella smiled for the first time that night. "I can't let your last hope die." Ella grinned.

"Thank you."

"Thank me after you get the O. McGonagall won't know what hit her."

Ten minutes before curfew and the first half of the essay had been completely redone and Ella was physically dreading when curfew would be over.

"So, you just need to add these points," Michael said writing an outline for the next few paragraphs and the conclusion, "And then you should be all set." He checked his watch. "We better get going if we want to make it back for curfew."

Ella nodded in agreement and they both started to pack up their things. Michael slid the Potions book over to her but Ella pushed it back, "Didn't you say you needed it for the ingredient list?"

"Oh yeah," he exclaimed taking the book gladly. "My head is so full of Transfiguration things are falling out of it."

—

Lily woke with a start, her head nestled in the crook of the book she'd been looking at. The library had emptied and she checked her watch and strangled the yelp that wanted to come out of her mouth, it was an hour past curfew. She gathered her things quickly and quietly, scared Madam Pince would come around a bookshelf and give her a detention. Of course it was completely irrational, Madam Pince would be fast asleep by now. Lily returned the book to the shelf before scarpering out of the Library quietly.

The halls were empty and it felt a little eerie. She should be use to how quiet the castle got after curfew but usually she was with someone. She'd never been out after curfew on her own before but as more time passed and she didn't run into any teachers or Prefects she calmed down a little and found she actually enjoyed how still the castle was. The torches had been extinguished and only moonlight lit the corridors, which made it hard to navigate through the shortcut passage ways, but she managed it without even lighting her wand — she didn't want to draw attention to herself.

She'd made it half way when her heart almost stopped. She heard people whispering and walking. Quickly, Lily threw herself into a broom closet and closed the door quietly.

"Dumbledore's gone nutters," a witch said obviously annoyed. Lily peeked through the keyhole and saw a witch and a wizard. The witch was very short and frail looking with honey hair and muggle clothing on and the wizard was scary looking, he looked African and wore gold and purple robes that seemed to glow even in the darkness of midnight. "Summoning us at this hour of the night! What could be so bloody important at this unforgiving hour?"

"Shush, Arabelle! You're lucky I came to get you at all, now if you don't stop whinging I'll apparate you back where you came from!"

Arabella, the witch, looked taken back. "No need to get so touchy, Shacklebolt. I'm just saying, I've got to get up at six tomorrow and Dumbledore better have a good reason … oh do you even know where we are going?"

Their voices faded completely and Lily was curious. She was so curious that even though she knew she shouldn't she followed them. She crept out of her broom closet on the fifth floor and took her shoes off so her footsteps were muffled by her socks. She ran silently until the faded voices could be heard again.

"I'm sure he said the fifth floor portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw," the wizard, Shacklebolt said.

"You idiot! There are no portraits of Rowena Ravenclaw! I'm a squib and I know that! You call yourself a wizard," Arabella muttered. Lily's curiosity had peeked. She wanted to know who these peculiar people were. The squib and the wizard. Why did Dumbledore want to talk to them? The wizard didn't look of any importance. Lily had never seen him, not even in the Prophet. In fact the wizard didn't seem very intelligent if he had thought there was a portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt? Arabelle Figg? Is that you?" Lily recognised Professor McGonagall's voice and placed her hand on top of her mouth. If McGonagall found Lily out of bed, Lily shuddered to think of what would happen. "Well it's about time! We're all waiting for you! The Bennetts and McKinnons arrived twenty minutes ago and Mad-Eye Moody has been here since nine p.m. He's getting very moody," McGonagall's voice got softer and softer as they walked away but Lily dared not to move until she was sure they were completely gone. "And all the teachers are getting restless of course especially with Prewett brothers setting parchments on fire every five seconds for their mere…"

McGonagall's voice could no longer be heard and Lily sprinted up in the corridors up to Gryffindor Tower only to be yanked into an empty classroom.

"Potter," she said without even looking at him. He'd had a knack for pulling her into rooms and closets and she didn't miss the fact that this was _their_ classroom.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed, Evans?" he hissed at her.

Suddenly, Lily heard a long drawn out howl. "What was that?" she cried and James stiffened, checking his watch.

"Damn it," he muttered, "I'm late."

"Late for what?"

"Come on, I'm taking you to the common room."

Lily rolled her eyes, "What makes you think I want to go _anywhere_ with you? Besides, I thought you didn't want me to talk to you?"

"Well the good thing about walking, is that it doesn't require talking and it's not safe to roam the castle."

"I think I can handle the three flights of stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room." Another howl sounded and Lily froze, "Seriously, what is that?"

"I've got to go," he muttered urgently and without a further glance at Lily, he sprinted off so fast that when Lily went out into the corridor to see which way he'd gone, she couldn't even see him.

—

Ella woke up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning and the thing Ella hated most about herself was that once she woke up, she was up. No amount of tossing and turning was going to change that. So, regrettably, she rolled out of bed and changed into her school robes quietly before heading out of the dormitory, her journal in hand.

It's funny how she had started writing in a journal. Ella's mum had given it to her on her first ever day of Hogwarts. Ella had been frightened she'd be homesick and miss her mum so her mum had given her a journal and said that if she ever felt like talking, she could write whatever it was she wanted to say and then she'd feel better. Ella at first, had scoffed at the idea but halfway through the year Ella had written in it on a whim after she'd gotten a letter from home and since Ella had been hooked. Now it had become a therapeutic habit that Ella could not live without.

Ella took a glance at the burnt out fireplace and frowned. The common room, whilst cold was chilled and if Ella was going to be cold anyways, she'd rather do it somewhere with a view so she headed out of the common room, the Fat Lady grumbling as she climbed out of the portrait hole, and then she was faced with a decision. Up or down. Up had nice scenery, she could sit on a window seal with the grounds rolling out before her. But down had a lake. Before she knew what she was doing, she stepped down and then continued until eventually she was outside by the lake.

The lake was stunning at this time in the morning, the grey light casting just enough light to make it sparkle and a light mist rolling over the calm water. The air still around her but chilly enough that she wrapped her cloak tightly around her as she searched for a spot to sit. The grass had beads of morning dew clinging to it and the grass and dirt stuck to her shoes as she walked. Overhead, in the trees neighbouring the lake, the birds were waking up and Ella knew she had chosen right. If she'd gone up, she'd never have heard the birds sing. Besides, it was nice to get some fresh air.

She found a tree with gnarly roots and sat against it, opening her journal and touching the top of her page with her quill, writing the date neatly in the right corner. That was as far as she got though.

"Dearborn?"

She jumped a mile into the air, dropping her book and quill into her lap. "Bloody hell, Black!" Ella exclaimed clutching her heart. "What are you doing out here? It's five in the morning!"

"Ditto."

Ella looked at him properly and pursed her lips. He had a jagged bloody line across his neck and terrible black bags under his eyes. "You're bleeding."

Sirius looked down at his body, looking for the blood and Ella rolled her eyes before tossing her journal aside and getting up. She pulled her wand out, her other hand angling his head to expose his neck where the red gash was. She waved her wand over the gash and frowned when it didn't immediately heal. She did it several more times before the gash closed but her frown remained. Where should've been perfectly healed skin, was a raw pink line.

"How did you get that? It was awfully hard to heal."

"Careful, Dearborn. I might think you care."

Ella stepped back. "Wouldn't want you to get that impression," she agreed.

"So you write then?"

"Careful, Black. I might think you care."

Sirius grinned, "Wouldn't want you to get that impression."

"Seriously though, what're you doing out here at this time and how did you get that gash?"

Sirius shrugged, "What are you doing up?"

"I asked first."

"I asked second."

Ella narrowed her eyes at him. "I woke up."

"So?"

"Once I wake up, I can't fall back asleep so I came out here because it's pretty — at least it was until you ruined it with your face."

"Mean."

Ella shrugged, "Wouldn't want you to think I cared."

"Touché. Well, I'll leave you to pour out your heart in a book."

"Why so hasty to leave, Black?"

"Because you want me to."

Ella put her hands on her hips. "And how could you possibly know that?"

Sirius smirked, "I have the inner eye, Dearborn and it's telling me that as soon as I leave your going to write about how hot I am in your journal."

Ella snorted, "Ha! And I have common sense and it's telling me that you are full of shit."

"Now that is highly illogical. Everyone knows that people are mainly filled with blood and guts and bones and water."

"Okay, now I want you to leave."

"See, I have the inner eye, Dearborn," he winked. "See you around."

"Full of shit," she called after him, "And you still owe me a galleon!"

—

Lily tried to find James to question where he'd gone last night but he hadn't been in the common room and Lily struggled to find him on the Gryffindor table at breakfast. She only saw a flicker of Peter but she looked away and by the time she looked back he was gone. Lily ate breakfast slowly, wondering what Potter had been up to last night and those howls. Potter knew something about those howls, Lily just didn't know what.

"Hurry up, Lily," Ella encouraged, "The bell is going to go off soon and we've Potions."

"Excited to get to Potions, are we?" Marlene smirked and Ella rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond.

Lily didn't start eating faster until she realised that Potter would have to be in class but when they arrived in the dungeons, Potter was nowhere to be found. Instead, only Sirius and Peter were there. Lily debated whether she should ask them where he was. It really wasn't any of her business but she was curious (and maybe a little worried). It irked her that Remus wasn't here either. He hadn't come to the meeting last night and now he was missing classes too, maybe he was ill. Lily fiddled with the clasp on her robe until she mustered up the nerve to just go and ask. She could just blame it on Prefect schedules.

"Oi, Black," Lily called, "Where's Potter?"

"Who's asking?" he retorted.

"Me, obviously. Head business," she offered as an excuse.

"Vague," he noted and Lily rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms.

"Are you going to tell me where he is or not?"

"Nope," he said popping the 'p'.

"Why?" Lily questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Because telling you would require me actually knowing where he is, which I don't."

Lily groaned, "You really could have just started with that."

"But then I would've missed this stimulating conversation," he replied with a charming smile and Lily snorted and turned back to Ella and Marlene.

"Since when do you care where Potter is?" Ella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Like I said, Head business, just need to ask him something."

"Uh-huh," Ella said in a way that said, _I know you're lying_. But she couldn't press Lily any further since Professor Slughorn arrived and they entered the classroom and he started lecturing them about what goes into creating a new potion for twenty minutes and instructed them to create a potion that would cause the recipient to sing. They had barely pulled their cauldrons out when classes were cancelled for the second day in a row when Professor Dumbledore made a voice-over announcement. Everyone was to be escorted by their teachers to their common rooms at once and students were to remain in their common rooms until further notified. The whole school was buzzing as they followed various teachers up to their common rooms but no one knew what had happened.

"Do you think Rogers died?" Marlene whispered fretfully.

"She couldn't have," Ella said, "She was in the Hospital Wing."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Sometimes people in comas don't wake up!"

Lily shook her head, "Nah, they wouldn't only give her overnight to wake up. Usually people are in comas for longer than a week before they unplug them."

"Unplug?" Adaline asked.

"Muggle thing. I suppose you guys have a spell that helps people breathe in comas," Marlene contributed. "But usually if the patient doesn't wake up, they take the spell off and the person, well, the person dies. My uncle was in a coma for two and a half weeks before mum let them take him off life support."

"What happened?"

"We all sat around his bed, said our goodbyes — my mum was crying heaps and then the doctors started turning off all the machines that were keeping him alive."

"No," Adaline rolled her eyes, "How did your uncle end up in a coma?"

"Summer after third year, wasn't it?" Ella asked and Marlene nodded.

"Yet I still don't know _how_."

"A car accident," Marlene shrugged, "A drunk driver-"

"Someone who had been drinking alcohol," Lily clarified.

"I didn't gather," Ella said dryly.

"Drunk driver t-boned my uncles car. I think he died."

"Jumping jarvies," Polly Piggens, a Hufflepuff in their year exclaimed loudly, interrupting their conversation, "I can't believe you have to walk up all these steps just to get to your common room!"

Ella rolled her eyes, "We can't all live in the basement, Piggens."

"Do you think there was another attack?" Adaline asked quietly so the first years behind them wouldn't hear.

"I hope not," Lily murmured.

Something like that would have to be a Hogwarts record if another student had been attacked within twenty-four hours of the first attack but Lily quickly realised that another attack would make perfect sense for classes to be called off again. Lily wondered who had fallen victim this time. She thought about it all morning. First year or seventh year? Witch or wizard? Kind or cruel? Muggle-born, half-blood or pure-blood? When her thoughts concluded that it was probably a muggle-born, Lily was cross. Why should muggle-borns always be targeted? They hadn't done anything wrong.

Lily's questions and suspicions were confirmed when Professor McGonagall came up to their common room at lunch. The entire room quietened down as soon as she entered, eager to hear what had happened.

"Unfortunately," Professor McGonagall said heavily. "Another student has been attacked, however, Professor Scrivens found her just in time and Madam Pomfrey is confident that she will make a full recovery."

"Who was the student?" Alex Brown, a boy in their year who shared a dormitory with the Marauders, asked.

"Mia Scott," Professor McGonagall answered and a few fourth years gasped. "Now, classes after lunch will resume as normal and you may go to the Great Hall for lunch. However, as precautionary measures, I advise that everyone travel around the castle in pairs or groups, and if possible, try to stay in the Tower. Do not wander."

—

Ella was walking to the library alone, which deep down she knew was a terrible idea but deep down she also knew she would be safe because she was a pure blood and the unfairness of it all irked her. Just because she came from a long line of witches and wizards her life was somehow more worthy than that of fellow students who didn't. But no matter how much it irked her she couldn't sit in that common room listening to Marlene and Adaline go on about it.

"Elle!" someone called out and Ella frowned, not sure if it was meant for her. "Elle! Ella!"

She turned around and Michael was running up to her. "Hey," she said. "What's up?"

"What are you doing?"

"Going to the library. You?"

"Going to the library."

Ella shrugged and started walking again, Michael falling into step with her. "You know, I kind of miss having an excuse to talk to you."

"Are you asking me out?" Ella turned to face him. "Because if you are, you should just ask you know."

"Has anyone ever said you're kind of blunt?"

Ella shrugged, "Lily might've mentioned it a few times. So are you asking me out or not because if you are I'd rather you just get it over with now, I've got a tonne of homework to do and-"

He bent down and kissed her, effectively shutting her up and taking her by surprise in the process. His hands cupped her face and Ella dropped her books, her hands going to his waist. He pulled back and Ella flushed. "So I guess you're asking me out."

"I guess I am."

She waited and he waited. "You know you still have to ask. It is only polite."

"Right. Want to go on a date sometime, Ella?"

She considered for a moment. "You're a great kisser. Fun to talk to. But no. See you around, Putley."

She swooped down to pick up her books and walked away, leaving Putley stunned in the middle of the empty corridor.

—

After classes, Lily found herself in the Heads Office — she deemed it safe considering only Prefects new the password to get in — signing detention and points taken slips. She was surprised to find a lot of slips had accumulated this week. A group of third years out of bed. A pair of Ravenclaws hexing each other. Two Sixth Year Gryffindors caught snogging in a broom closet just after curfew. The list went on and on and quite frankly just looking at the pile had given Lily a headache. Ara Black, a sixth year Slytherin Prefect, was not helping.

She stood in front of Lily's desk, her arms folded as she ranted on about how patrolling an extra hour at night was damaging her sleep routine.

"I just don't see why we have to patrol until midnight when the stupid girl got attacked during the day!" she finished her very self-centred rant.

"I understand your frustrations," Lily said slowly, reminding herself to be patient, "I just don't understand what you want me to do about it. Professor Dumbledore has decided that it is necessary for us to patrol an extra hour at nights and that's final. I can't do anything to change that, unless you're suggesting you don't wish to be a Prefect anymore in which case I'd be happy to have a word with Professor Slughorn."

Black huffed and stormed out of the Heads Office as James walked in, upon seeing him, Lily said, "Good, I need you to sign these slips and Professor McGonagall has asked us to supervise a detention of a group of second years next Thursday at eight."

James sat in a chair. "What will they be doing?"

"Cleaning portraits in the sixth floor corridor. Without magic," Lily answered. "Oh, and I've done the schedule for next week."

James picked up the parchment that Lily gestured to and rolled his eyes at the sight of Fortescue and Lily rostered to patrol together next Thursday night. James was rostered with Remus on Tuesday, which sucked because he still had to do that Defence essay due on Wednesday and patrolling on Tuesday night would mean he'd need to have it finished by Monday night instead.

James glanced at Lily as he sent the parchment to hang itself on the noticeboard. She read over detention slips, playing with the quill in her hand before either signing the slip or throwing it out. Her hair was up in a messy bun and her skin glowed in the sunlight and James forced himself to look away, which, surprisingly, proved easier when she started to talk to him again.

"I saw you hexing Filch's cat at lunch," she accused and James rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on, Evans, you can't tell me you like that bloody cat?"

This time Lily rolled her eyes. "It's not about the damn cat. It's about the fact that you were hexing it!"

"So?"

Lily put down her quill, boring her eyes into him angrily. " _So_ ," she gritted, "You are Head Boy" — "I'm aware" — "And how are we supposed to discipline students when the Head Boy is hexing cats in the corridors? Grow up, Potter."

James couldn't fight her logic. "I'd never thought about it like that," he admitted, "I'm sorry. I'll tone it down."

Lily expected to have a fight with him about it but he actually agreed with her — a rare occurrence. She decided to back track a little, "Look, I'm not saying don't pull your pranks, I'm just saying, be more discreet about it," she told him leniently.

He gasped in mock horror, "Did Lily Evans just approve of my mischievous ways?"

"Look, that is about as much leniency from me that your _mischievous ways_ are ever going to get so, take it or leave it."

They fell into silence as James too started going through the points taken slips and after a half hour of quietly working opposite each other, Lily grabbed her bag and stood up. She was at the door when James said, "Do you always have to patrol with Fortescue?"

Lily looked back at him. He wasn't looking at her, he was staring at the desk, his knuckles white around his quill, his posture tense. "Quite frankly, Potter, it's none of your business," she said, about to step out but she stopped and turned around. "Where did you end up going last night and where were you this morning?" Lily questioned him.

He turned to look at Lily, "Quite frankly, Evans, that's none of your business."


	6. Chapter 5: Last First Hogsemeade Trip

Lily Evans didn't know she'd actually end up looking forward to the Hogsmeade trip but after an unusually, wonderful chain of events Lily was quite excited to go. You see, she had a date. It happened last night, Andrew had snagged her in the corridor outside of the library.

"Well, spit it out then," Lily said looking at him expectantly. She didn't much care for waiting games.

"Would you – did you want to go to Hogsmeade? With me, that is?" it came out in a rush and almost turned into a jumble but Lily had heard every single word perfectly as though he'd said them slowly and clearly. Andrew ran a hand through his short curls as he waited for Lily's reply.

"I'd love to," Lily had smiled warmly, she'd been anticipating that he would ask her out. It was more a question of 'when' rather than 'if'. Andrew grinned ear-to-ear and kissed her on the cheek before going back into the library. Lily touched where his lips had been and smiled.

Lily's plans to not go to Hogwarts abruptly changed and the next morning she woke up a little early to shower and get ready. Lily always fought the battle of muggle clothing versus witch robes for Hogsmeade trips and she fought that very same battle today. She liked to wear muggle clothes when she could — they were much more stylish than robes — but Andrew was pure-blood. Maybe he liked witches in robes. But some pure-bloods like muggle clothes. James did. She sighed, she knew what she should do. If Andrew couldn't accept the fact that she liked to wear muggle clothes, she was dating the wrong person. She tugged on a pair of jeans and slipped on a cream sweater before applying make-up to her face. Just a little bit.

"Why're you putting on make up for?" Adaline asked.

"Is it a crime to put a bit of make up now?" Lily asked as she finished stroking her lashes with the mascara brush.

"Well, its not the make up, Lily," Ella relented, "It's the sudden change of mind. Last we knew you were staying in the castle to finish Professor Slughorn's homework."

"I finished it last night," Lily lied however Marlene held up a piece of parchment which only had a few paragraphs on it.

"You mean this? ' _The Downfalls of Making Polyjuice Potion_ ' which only has two paragraphs under it?" Marlene passed the parchment to Alice who also inspected it. "This doesn't seem so finished to me, does it Alice?"

"Hmm, I don't think so, if it is it's very short and very unfinished ' _Therefore the downfalls of polyjuice potion are caused by_ ' and it just finishes there!"

"I think Slughorn would give even you a 'T' on that, Lily. It's such a poor way to finish an essay especially considering it's a very short essay too," Ella said also ganging up on Lily.

"Are you just all going to gang up on me?" Lily questioned as she pulled on her emerald cloak.

The four friends looked at each other and chorused, "Yes."

Lily checked her watch and saw that it was ten minutes to ten. Andrew and Lily had agreed to meet at ten in the Entrance Hall. Lily pulled on a pair of black boots and shrugged on a black trench coat.

"Then I must be going," Lily said, trying to push past the girls but Adaline stood in front of the doorway.

"Not so fast," Adaline said, holding a hand up. "There's something…suspicious. Your hair is nice and you've put on make-up and your wearing your nice coat, the one your mum got you for your birthday last year. You're going on a date!" she said brightly and Lily winced. "Lily Evans is going on a date and you didn't even tell your friends! Shame on you, Evans!"

"You might as well tell us who it's with," Marlene told her, lazily.

"I've got to go," Lily tried to avoid telling them and get past Adaline but Adaline was quite a hard person to get past.

"Come on," Alice urged, "Spill the beans. Is it Potter?"

Lily was quite shocked at that suggestion, they'd both been avoiding each other and their conversations were like ice. "Don't be ridiculous! Did you forget that he left me glued to a train?"

"Well," Ella said, "There's always a chance."

Lily snorted, "Yeah, maybe if he was the last man on Earth and I was forced to reproduce with him just so I'd have other company, other than Potter."

"Oh hush, Lily, stop dramatising. He's not that bad," Marlene said. Lily begged to differ. "So if it isn't Potter, who is it then?"

"Don't make a fuss," Lily warned. "It's Andrew Fortescue."

"Fortescue? As in the extremely talented not to mention sexy, Hufflepuff, Quidditch Captain not to mention prefect, Andrew Fortescue? Did I mention he'd probably have the Fortescue ice cream family recipe?"

"That's the one," Lily checked her watch again, "And I really must be going. I don't want to keep him waiting."

"Fine but we want to know if you're going to become the next Mrs Fortescue," Alice said shrugging.

"It'd be a real shame if you ended up becoming Mrs Fortescue, the lady who serves ice cream in Diagon Alley," Ella commented and then under the gaze of her friends, Ella shrugged, "It would be. Lily has more brains than serving ice cream."

"I think you're jumping the gun," Lily muttered and Alice and Adaline were completely confused about the phrase. "Oh never mind," Lily snapped, rolling her eyes. "I'll let you know how it goes and please don't crash my date."

"We'll try not to," Adaline said cheerily, "Can't promise anything though. Have fun on your date, Lily Poo!"

"Don't call me that!" Lily shrieked as she walked out of the dormitory, she heard the other girls laugh.

Lily was a couple of minutes late to the Entrance Hall and she found Andrew inspecting the house points on the left hand side of the hall. Gryffindor was winning today, the ruby jewels told them that they were on a hundred and ninety seven points. Ravenclaw wasn't far behind on a hundred and ninety points.

"Hello," Lily said and Andrew turned around startled. He was wearing a black cloak and black gloves. A yellow, Hufflepuff scarf was tied around his neck and Lily suddenly Lily felt self-conscious about her outfit. She fidgeted with the belt of her coat until Andrew gushed, "You look pretty."

Lily smiled, letting go of the end of her belt and said, "Thank you."

Lily couldn't help but look at his eyes. She'd never noticed how blue they were but they weren't like Dumbledore's or even Petunia's. Andrew's eyes were almost transparent and Lily thought she could look at them for days.

"Shall we get going then?" he asked and Lily nodded, snapping her gaze away from his eyes.

They started talking about normal things and the first normal thing that seemed to be on the agenda was school. They talked about the homework they had yet to complete for Monday and they talked of how sad it would be to leave Hogwarts for good.

"Where shall we go then? The Three Broomsticks?" Andrew asked and Lily nodded gratefully. She never quite liked Madam Pudifoot's tea but she did enjoy a bottle of Butterbeer.

Andrew held the door open for Lily as the sign above them swayed slightly from the strong breeze passing through the town. Lily wondered when the first snow would fall but knew it would still be another couple of months from now. She hoped it was before Christmas though, Lily would hate to have to leave without seeing the first snow fall. She loved when it happened on a weekend during the day. Lily would sit at a window — any window, in her dormitory, in the common room, library, corridor — and just watch as everything slowly became dazzling white.

"Did you want anything to eat?" Andrew asked and Lily shook her head. She had her fill of food at breakfast, the house elves really outdid themselves, she'd had an excellent egg and bacon roll.

"Just a Butterbeer please," she said and he nodded. Lily sat down at a table and Andrew went to order.

She quite enjoyed Andrew's company. He was easy to talk to and Lily enjoyed that. He made her laugh and he made her forget about the war that was raging on outside the Hogwarts bubble. Made her forget that the war was slipping in through the bubble. Made her forget that she should be cautious in the castle. Lily wondered what his opinion on the war was but she didn't want to ruin the comfortable talk they were having. The war was always an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Besides no one wanted to talk politics on a date.

Andrew came back with the drinks and set Lily's down in front of her.

"So, Lily Evans, I want to know more about you," Andrew said and Lily giggled.

"What would you like to know, Mr Fortescue?" Lily asked mysteriously but Andrew cringed.

"Call me anything but, Mr Fortescue. Mr Fortescue is my grandad."

"But then what can I call you?" Lily asked with a frown.

"You can call me Andrew," he suggested and Lily frowned further.

"I'm going to need a nickname though," Lily said and he laughed.

"No, but seriously, I would like to know more about you," he said.

"Ask away, I have no secrets."

"Okay then, what's your favourite colour?"

"Woah, that is just way to personal," Lily joked and Andrew cracked a smile, "I can't tell you that," Lily paused for a moment for the joke to pass and then answered seriously, "It's green and I kind of hate that it's green because it's a Slytherin colour but there you go. What's yours?"

"Patronus blue," he said thoughtfully, "You know that blue tinge that comes, I've never seen anything like it. It's not blue like the sky nor is it blue like the ocean. It just reminds me of peace."

"Well now I feel bad with my mediocre answer of green. I'll have you know it's the emerald green that I like, not any shade will do. It has to be emerald green."

"Well then you're completely forgiven of your mediocre answer," Andrew said and Lily laughed. "How did your family react when they found out you're a witch?"

"My parents took it well, sister not so much but it's okay. I deal with it. What's it like growing up with wizard and witch parents?"

"Pretty ordinary," he said shrugging.

"Really?" Lily asked disappointed. She'd hoped for something cool like dishes washing themselves and beds being made with the flick of a wand or flying on a broomstick when you were little.

"Yeah," he said shrugging. "Though one time my great-grandma did set the ice cream grandad had made at Christmas on fire during a debate. Dad was furious, it was his favourite flavour and he turned poor great-grandma's clothes pink which infuriated my mother because apparently pink isn't a proper wizarding colour. She's very old and traditional you see."

Lily laughed, "That's pretty cool. Nothing like that ever happened at my house."

The rest of the date went rather well at least until James Potter gate-crashed.

—

Adaline waited in the Entrance Hall for Thomas. She'd taken Marlene's advice and decided to give Thomas another chance. Their first date was pretty good as far as dates could go and Thomas was nice. The kind of guy that held the door open and pulled the chair out. She could do worse than Thomas Plunkett. That she knew and the conversation wasn't all that bad. He was nice to talk to.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," he said breathlessly.

Adaline checked her watch. He was a few minutes late but Adaline shrugged. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," he smiled and kissed her awkwardly on the cheek. Adaline blushed remembering the awkward peck at the end of their last date. They started walking down the path to the gates. "So I've got a whole itinerary for us."

"Oh?"

"Yep," he grinned. "So first up is-"

"No, don't tell me," Adaline smiled, "Surprise me."

He grinned again, his dimples showing. "All right then. Some girls don't like being surprised."

"You seem to think you know a lot about girls."

"Maybe I do," he shrugged. "Or maybe I don't."

Adaline smiled, "Have you finished Slughorn's assignment yet?"

"Almost, you?"

"Almost."

They talked about the Potions assignment until they ended up in front of Madam Pudifoot's. Turned out Thomas had reserved a table on the street — which was exceptionally hard to do — and they sat out and had ordered a pot of tea and a chocolate chipped muffin with strawberries. They sat out in the sun drinking their tea and sharing the muffin and talked about anything that occurred to them and placed bets on which couples were on dates and how long they'd been dating for.

"Them two," Thomas pointed out and Adaline followed his line of vision and her mouth dropped open.

Nate was walking down High Street with Mia Scott — a fifth year. Excitement bubbled up in her and her gossiping tendencies tingled. She needed to find Marlene because Marlene would freak.

"Definitely a first date," Adaline concluded.

"Nah, they look to comfortable with each other."

Adaline considered, watching the couple. They held hands and Mia wasn't afraid to lean on him. "First date in Hogsmeade," Adaline allowed. "They may have snogged in a broom closet once or twice."

Thomas laughed. "I'd say so."

"Marlene's going to freak," Adaline chuckled.

"Does she have a crush on him?"

"What? No. They're like siblings."

"Siblings who flirt."

"They've always been like that," Adaline insisted, "They grew up together and it is strictly platonic."

"Whatever you say — oh, what about them two?" Thomas pointed out another couple. They were young, definitely fourth years.

"Puppy love. May last the year but they'll break up eventually and there will be tears."

—

The Marauders entered Hogsmeade with a rather loud and cheerful attitude. Sirius had a bet with Remus on whether Madam Rosemerta would give Sirius a free Butterbeer if he flirted with her. James put a few galleons in supporting Remus on the grounds that, "Madam Rosemerta only likes it when I flirt with her."

"You're such a git, Prongs, not to mention delusional. We all know I'm the better looking one in the duo. Wouldn't you agree, Wormtail?"

"I'd rather not be brought into this," Peter said wearily.

"That's because he _knows_ I'm the better looking one," James said knowingly and Sirius snorted.

"You know St Mungo's owled me the other day, they weren't sure if you needed a bed or to be set back into the wild."

Remus and Peter laughed and James bit back, "Well I got a call from a muggle vet asking if I'd seen a stray, black dog. Apparently it's got rabies. I told them there was a black dog with rabies sleeping in the bed next to me."

Sirius and James both laughed as they walked into the Three Broomsticks and it was at that moment James's mood went completely foul.

"What do you want, James? A Butterbeer?" Peter asked.

"What the bloody hell do you think, Wormtail?" he snapped before going to sit at a table.

She was on a date. A date. But why should he care? Right, he shouldn't. She'd made it clear that she wasn't interested in anything with him but really? Andrew sodding Fortescue? She sat opposite him, their hands mere millimetres away from each other and she smiled at Fortescue like she used to smile at James. James looked away but that didn't help much, her pretty laugh could be heard from across the room and the more he heard it the more he wanted to punch Fortescue right in his pretty face because it should be James sitting opposite Lily making her laugh. James had her first.

"Prongs!" Sirius clicked his fingers in front of James's face before the feeling of doom over losing a woman like Lily Evans could fully set in. "You okay? You seem off."

"I'm fine." I want to hex something, James thought. "Can I hex you?"

Sirius looked offended before saying, "Not unless you want to end up in the hospital wing."

"Right," James scoffed, "I'm so scared. You couldn't even beat me in a duel in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"I thought we were over that."

"I'm just saying, I'm a better dueller than you."

"I let you win," Sirius gruffed before saying cheerily, "So I could watch Evans kick your butt."

The mention of Lily Evans put James in an even fouler mood as the feeling of doom started to creep in.

"Aren't you meant to be flirting with Rosemerta?"

"Eager to be proven wrong?"

"Oh sod off. If you get a free Butterbeer I'll vanish Wormtail's eyebrow off."

"Hey!" Peter said offended.

"Oh relax, Wormtail. Sirius couldn't get a free Butterbeer even if he paid for it."

Remus returned with three Butterbeers and Sirius took that as his cue to go chat Rosemerta up.

"Have you finished the Potions essay, James?"

"Finished it this morning. Quidditch trials are this afternoon."

"Glad to see you've finally started doing schoolwork."

"My dad said that if I don't get top marks in all my subjects he'll blow up my Nimbus."

Peter and Remus sniggered. "I can't get the essay long enough," Peter sighed.

"I'll read over it," Remus said and Peter smiled gratefully.

Sirius came back without a Butterbeer and James and Remus split the money. They all started talking about the next full moon but James wasn't feeling it. It had been an hour when James's knuckles went white as paper as he heard her laughter drift out again. He decided to do something about it despite every voice in his head telling him not to.

He stood up and ignored Peter and Remus's questions and went to Lily's table. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Lily, smiling cheerfully.

"Potter," Lily said through gritted teeth, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I came to see what was so funny," he replied innocently. "You've been laughing your head off all day."

"Trying to get tips, are you Potter?" Andrew asked and James's fist went white again, the urge to punch Fortescue's pretty face, ever growing.

"Andrew!" Lily scowled at him before turning to James. "Don't you have other toilets to blow up or something?"

"I told you I didn't blow up the bloody toilets," James exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Prongs!" Sirius called out, "Wormtail is going to try and still some firewhisky from the storeroom, we've got to go and distract Rosemerta!"

"Go on," Lily dared though her eyes were narrow. This had been the behaviour Lily had warned James not to partake in, the behaviour James had agreed to take a step back from for the sake of being Head Boy and having to set a better example.

James considered before saying, "I'm going back up to the castle," James said to Sirius. "Set up the Quidditch pitch for trials. Meet you there!"

With that James left a bewildered Sirius to charm Rosemerta all on his own along with Lily who was surprised James had taken the responsible route and he walked back up to the castle all on his own, the desire to punch something — Fortescue's face — still there.

—

Marlene, Ella and Alice walked along the High Street passing several shops, trying to decide what to do.

"Is this all you guys do when you come to Hogsmeade?" Alice complained.

"Pretty much," Ella shrugged.

"Having Frank withdrawal symptoms are you?" Marlene asked.

"I will not snog you in a deserted ally way," Ella said sternly and then winked, "Unless you're into that sort of thing."

"Ella," Alice complained.

Marlene wrapped an arm around Ella's arm, "Don't worry, Ella, I'll hook up with you in a deserted alley way."

"Who knew McKinnon was such a kinky girl?" Black joined their conversation, coming from nowhere.

"Padfoot, leave them alone," Remus said. "Sorry, ladies, he's just upset that James didn't want to snog him in a deserted alley way."

"What are you lovely ladies up to today?"

"Nothing," Alice shrugged.

"Care to join us in a game of forty-four homes?"

"Hey, that's a muggle game!" Marlene explained.

"We weren't going to play a game," Peter whispered to Remus.

"Hush, Wormtail. We will if the ladies will join us." Sirius looked back at the girls, a smile on his face. "So what do you say?"

Ella shrugged and glanced at both Marlene and Alice who also shrugged. "Why not? Though you will have to explain the game to us."

Sirius tusked, "McKinnon, what are you and Lily teaching these inbreds?"

"I am not an inbred!" Alice shouted indignantly.

Ella considered, "Eh, we kind of are."

"It's okay," Sirius told her solemnly, "I'm an inbred too."

Alice rolled her eyes. "How do we play the game, Black?"

Sirius explained with the help of Marlene how Forty-Four Homes was played. A landmark of sorts was elected home-base, they had chosen the lamp post in the centre of the town, and the person who was 'in' had to guard the post. The person who was 'in' had to close their eyes and count to forty-four whilst the others hid once the forty-four seconds was up, they had to tag someone. If they managed to tag someone before everyone reached the home-base, that person was in.

"So where can we hide?" Ella asked.

"Anywhere in Hogsmeade. No magic," Sirius deduced. "In fact, to make sure no cheating occurs I say we hand our wands to Madam Rosmerta and she'll return them to us when we go to collect them."

Everyone decided that was fair and after a quick trip to The Three Broomsticks where Madam Rosmerta stored their wands under the counter, they quickly elected Alice as the person who was 'in' and she closed her eyes and started counting as everyone else scattered.

The game lasted five turn-overs, Sirius and Ella both managing to not be 'in' a single time and Peter managing to get tagged twice, when Sirius had to leave for Quidditch try-outs. The girls being hot and sweaty from the game, decided a cold butterbeer was just what they needed when Marlene stopped in her tracks.

"The thing you insisted wasn't a thing, is a thing." Marlene hit Ella's arm before pointing and when Ella saw it, she burst out laughing.

"I feel like I am missing something," Alice said.

Ella stopped laughing, "Yeah, Nate going out with a fifth year," she managed to get out before bursting into laughter again.

"So why does that constitute a _thing_?"

"Because Marly's being weird about it."

"I am not!" Marlene insisted. "I'm not. It's just he wouldn't tell me who he was dating. Mia Scott of all people."

"Isn't she supposed to be in the Hospital Wing?" Alice asked. "She did only get attacked the other day."

"Alice," Ella said, "She had a _date_ to get to. Nearly dying wasn't going to keep her from the date." Marlene frowned and Ella rolled her eyes. "Oh so he's dating someone younger, Marls. Who cares? Alice is dating an older guy."

"Nothing wrong with it at all," Alice agreed.

"She's a _fifth_ year," Marlene wrinkled up her nose. "What if they get married and have kids? I'm going to have to deal with a fifth year for the rest of my life and will she be at Felicia's wedding? That would be so awkward because Nate and I are partners in the bridal party and I don't even know Scott because she's a _fifth_ year. Why is he doing this to me?"

"Woah! Slow down," Alice said, "You're jumping the wand. They aren't getting married. They've gone on a date."

"Considering that PDA I'd say they've gone on multiple dates."

Marlene looked at the couple, who were facing each other, holding hands and giving each other eskimo kisses. Mia Scott was pretty, Marlene decided. She had short, black, wavy hair and big golden eyes. She was skinny and had long legs (which her leather skirt was showing off spectacularly) but she wasn't too tall. She passed all the markers for prettiness. She groaned. "This is the worse thing ever."

"Marls, you're making it a thing," Ella sighed.

"Because it is a _thing_!"

"It's really not," Alice said sadly. "Come on, let's go get those butterbeers and then we can head up to the castle and harass Lily and Della to tell us all about their dates."

—

Quidditch trials had been absolutely tedious. Forty people had shown up for the three positions and it took James twenty minutes to realise how incompetent half of them were — James' mother flew a broom better than most of them and that was saying something. Euphemia Potter was not a natural flyer. James dismissed half the group before thirty minutes had even passed.

James drilled the rest of them into the ground and three hours later James had narrowed down the two beaters to Liz Bell from fifth year and Dean Roberts from fourth year. His only real problem now was the keeper. No one had quite saved every pass however the two strongest players out of the lot was a stocky third year, Thomas Karev and a small, but fast sixth year named Lottie Podmore. It was hard because both players had their ups and downs. Karev was bigger and would be harder to be knocked off a broom but Podmore was so fast that she either caught or doged everything that came her way so it didn't matter if someone sent a bludger her way.

"Podmore! Get out of the hoops for a minute! I want to try something!" Potter shouted before he flew over to Nicolea Flawley. She was the seeker on the team but James wanted to see if this would work. You see Flawley was the perfect build for a keeper but she played seeker and Podmore was the perfect build for a seeker and years of family matches had told James that Flawley was a decent Keeper.

"I want you to try out for keeper," James told Nicolea and her mouth dropped.

"But I'm seeker! You can't just change my position!"

"Come on, Nikki! I remember when you first tried out, you tried out for the keeper position but Kurk got it instead but he's gone now and you've seen him play for four years! I know you can do this."

"I don't know, James," she said unsurely.

"Come on, Nikki, look at Podmore! She's the perfect build for a seeker and you're the perfect build for keeper! Just give it a shot. You know if you're rubbish at it I'll keep you seeker but I've got to know!"

"Oh all right!" she sighed defeated. She flew over to the hoops and James, Sirius and Adaline all took turns at trying to get the quaffle through the hoops. Not one of them scored.

"I think we've found our keeper," James said and tears almost came to his eyes.

"Podmore, how good are you at catching small, little golden balls that fly?" James asked her.

Lottie Podmore shrugged, "I think I'd be okay, my dad always marvels at how I always catch the peas he throws at me."

"Okay. Sirius and I are going to throw golf balls into the air and you have to catch them."

James and Sirius threw ten golf balls in all different directions and she managed to catch them all before they hit the ground.

"It's settled then! The new team members are: Lottie Podmore, Liz Bell and Dean Roberts! Thank you everyone for trying out and to the new members, our first practice is tomorrow night! It starts at seven thirty and lasts as long as I see fit. If you're late I will make you run around the pitch five times."

"He will," Sirius muttered, "He even made me do it once."

"Shut it, Padfoot," James muttered back.

—

Adaline felt that her date had ended on a much better note than it had the first time. For one, they ended their date snogging in the alley behind the Three Broomsticks and whilst Adaline wasn't completely sure yet, she also knew that Marlene had been right. She'd been judging guys too quickly, dismissing them too soon to actually feel anything for them. So she vowed that she'd give Thomas another three dates before she made an executive decision. She should know after five dates whether or not he was someone she could be with in the long run.

They walked up to the school together hand-in-hand, looking like some of the other couples they'd seen earlier in the day and again, Thomas walked Adaline right up to the portrait of the Fat Lady and he kissed her lips again, more confidently after their rendezvous in the alley and they parted ways. Adaline waited until he was out of earshot to say the password and stepped into the common room, scanning it for her friends.

She found Lily sitting by the window, the infamous Potions essay out in front of her and Adaline didn't hesitate to sit opposite her.

"Trade date details?" Lily suggested, putting her quill down. Adaline nodded eagerly. "You first."

"Started out at Madam Pudifoot's, he had a table reserved on the street!"

"Oh, that's so hard to do. Props to Plunkett."

"I know, then we strolled up to the cemetery-" "Morbid" "And we wondered around — you know there are people in there from the fifteen hundreds?"

"No, I didn't know that because I don't have dates in the cemetery."

"Right, well it was fun. Then we were walking back and we snogged in the alley way behind the Three Broomsticks and then we came up to the castle. Your turn."

"Three Broomsticks. Potter crashed it. No kisses for me."

"Potter crashed your date. Why?"

"Because he likes to be insufferable," Lily muttered darkly.

"What about Fortescue?"

"He was great, actually. We get along really well," Lily shrugged, "He asked me out again."

Adaline nodded, "Thomas asked me out again too."

"Del, I'm surprised at you. You must really like Plunkett. You never go on three dates with the same guy!"

"Er," Adaline hesitated, "Well, I'm not over the moon about him. But Marly suggested that I dismiss guys too quickly and so I decided to go on the second date to prove her wrong but I may have proved her right. So, I've decided that, should things keep going well, I will go on five dates with him before I decide to ditch him."

"Optimistic," Lily noted.

Adaline laughed, "Yes well, I'm not feeling the sparks yet so we'll see. He's a great snog though."

Lily laughed this time. "Worse comes to worse, drag it out a few extra dates just for the snogging. I did that with Warren last year after Tobias and I broke up."

"Sneaky."

Lily shrugged, "Had to get over Tobias somehow. Snogging other people is a good step. Maybe a little slutty but still very effective."

—

Sirius and James were the last to leave the field. James was completely buggered and just wanted to get to their dormitory but Sirius was hungry so they stopped by the kitchens to grab some pastries and somehow this made James's good mood from Quidditch turn foul again.

"Do we really have to?" James whined, "I'm tired."

"And I'm hungry! We'll only be ten minutes."

So they trekked down to the kitchens and Sirius and James stuffed their pockets with pastries and chocolate before leaving however there was someone waiting for them at the stairwell that led out of the basements.

Andrew Fortescue was leaning against the stone wall wearing the same clothes from the Three Broomsticks. James thought he looked quite morbid in all that black. Morbid or suspicious, he couldn't tell which.

"Potter, could I have a word?"

"I'd rather not," James said curtly.

"Look, I know you fancy Lily Evans-"

"You really don't want to have this conversation," Sirius warned him. The Marauders knew that unless they wanted to be hexed they were not to mention James' infatuation with Lily Evans. She was a taboo subject.

"I think I do," Andrew demanded and Sirius muttered, "Your funeral."

"I know you fancy Lily Evans," Andrew pressed on and James wasn't all that surprised to find that his urge to punch Fortescue in the face had returned. "But well, we've started something and I'd appreciate it if you stayed away and didn't gate crash our dates. It's really quite pathetic and —"

Crunch! James's fist had snapped forward straight into Andrew's nose but James must've done it wrong because his fingers were burning with pain. Blood was gushing out of Andrew's nose and was groaning and moaning in pain which of course attracted the attention of the prefects on patrol.

"What do we have here?" a slow, snide voice questioned and James and Sirius both stiffened. The worst people to be on patrol, were on patrol. The Slytherins — how could James forget he liked to give them the weekend nights?  
"A Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor fighting," Peyton Aitken tsked. "That won't do. Both prefects too. What do you say Severus? Twenty points each?"

"Perhaps thirty for Gryffindor seeing as there are two Gryffindors out of bed after curfew?"

"I couldn't agree more. Thirty points from Gryffindor and twenty points from Hufflepuff. And what kind of prefects would we be if we didn't escort you three to the hospital wing?"

"Very bad ones, I imagine," Sirius said, "Now move or I'll hex you."

"Threatening a prefect? Ten points from Gryffindor. Hospital wing now," Snape said lividly.

With no other choice, Sirius, James and Andrew grudgingly followed Aitkens and Snape to the Hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey sat James on a bed next to a partitioned off section and Sirius asked the question James had been thinking.

"Do you think it's the muggle-born who was attacked in there?"

James shrugged, "I'm willing to bet mum's painting of that ugly goblin."

"You hate that thing."

"That's why I'm willing to bet on it. Push the curtain open."

"Madam Pomfrey is right there," Sirius hissed.

"Oh stop being a wuss, my hand is mangled up just do it before she gets back from her office!"

Sirius sighed and casually walked over and peeked inside the partitions and then pushed it open so James could see.

"Hex me!" James hissed. "Something that would cause me to stay in the hospital wing over night."

"All right, should I make the bones in your hand disappear?"

"You know how to do that?"

"No, but my dad used this one hex one time and it was pretty brutal…"

"Just do it," James demanded.

Sirius pointed his wand at James and muttered " _Vox pergamentum"_. James's voice turned into nothing. If James tried to speak it came out a garbled mess as though the part of the brain that controlled speech had been messed around with. James was completely unable to communicate using his voice.

"Dad used it on mum when she wouldn't shut up about something, it's a wonder they're still married. Only the counter-course can get rid of it but my dad made that spell and its counter-course so Madam Pomfrey shouldn't know about it. When Madam Pomfrey is gone, point your wand to your neck and think ' _Vox patet.'_ That's the counter curse. It should keep you here overnight as long as she can't get you to speak properly."

James nodded and gestured for Sirius to leave before Madam Pomfrey came back. Maybe tonight would be interesting after all.

Madam Pomfrey was completely dumbstruck at James' total loss of speech. Everything she tried hadn't helped in the slightest and she sighed dejectedly and told James he would have to stay overnight until she could figure out how to make his speech return. She made James drink a potion that tasted like how James imagined slug repellent tasted like and Madam Pomfrey was frustrated when that potion didn't work either. She finally left James to sleep after he almost vomited the potion and James waited until past midnight to creep out of bed. He pointed his wand at his throat and thought the counter-curse and felt his vocal cords become normal again. He hadn't realised it but his vocal cords had felt like they'd been tied up and now they felt untangled.

He quietly slipped inside of Mia Scott's partitioned off room and before he could even sit down her eyes popped open and she shouted, "Who are you?!"

"Shh! Shh! Shh!" James hushed her hastily and felt some relief at being able to speak normally again, "I just want to talk to you."

Mia didn't seem to believe him so James relented. "Look I'll leave my wand here," James left his wand on the table next to the bed and went to sit down in the chair, "and I'll tell you who I am. I'm James Potter and I just wanted to ask you if you know who attacked you? I know you've told the teachers you don't know but I thought maybe you might be scared. But you shouldn't be. You know if we catch this person you have nothing to fear. So do you know who attacked you?"

"Yes," she whispered.

James sat up straighter and the next few words that came out of her mouth had James so shocked he could barely speak for five minutes. Then Madam Pomfrey walked back in and all hell broke loose.

—

Sirius spent the morning asking several people if they'd seen James. James was supposed to meet the Marauders for breakfast — that was the plan — but James hadn't showed and whilst Sirius wasn't worried, he was thoroughly annoyed.

"I mean, Moony, how hard is it to follow a simple plan? Get information out of Scott, meet us for breakfast so we can gossip about it. It's not bloody transfiguration theory."

"But you get O's in transfiguration theory," Peter frowned.

"It's an expression, Pete," Sirius snapped.

Remus considered, "Maybe Pomfrey's kept him for observation."

"Nah, Prongs would've done the anti-jinx by now. His voice would be back."

"Maybe he didn't do the anti-jinx?" Peter suggested.

Sirius was about to scoff but then exclaimed, "Bloody brilliant, Pete. If Scott was talking to him, maybe he wanted to stay longer to see if she'd tell him more!"

"Can we go to Transfiguration now? We're going to be late."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "You would care, Moons."

—

James sat in Professor McGonagall's office and his leg was shaking. He couldn't understand why Mia Scott would say that. It was quite absurd and anyone who knew James knew that it was completely ridiculous. James didn't mind a good prank or two but he'd never fatally or seriously harm someone. Anyone who knew James knew that.

"Potter, you have some serious explaining to do!" Professor McGonagall was looking down at James more fiercely than she had ever looked at James and it took all James had not to cower under the fiery gaze.

"Professor, I don't know why she said that, I really don't but _please_! I didn't do it! You can't get me in trouble for something I didn't do!"

"Potter, the evidence is piled up against you," Professor McGonagall accused. "You were not in class that morning and the victim has identified you as her attacker. Unless you can tell me where you were that morning and someone or something that can give you an alibi then I'm sorry, Potter but the matter will go out of my hands and up to Professor Dumbledore's and I'll tell you now, he'll have to take the Head Boy badge off you and your Quidditch privileges may be fully revoked, as currently you are suspended from any extracurricular activities."

"Professor, you can't!"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter," she warned severely, "These are serious accusations! Two students were severely attacked within the last four days! They almost died! If that is all the consequences you would face, you should count yourself lucky! The board will be urging for an expulsion!"

James searched around his mind, he couldn't tell Professor McGonagall why he wasn't in class because the truth is he didn't go to class because he'd left the Marauders' Map in the Shrieking Shack and had to go get it. By the time he'd gotten back, he'd been too tired to go to class and had gone for a lie down in his dormitory. Remus had beat him up pretty bad the night before. But he couldn't tell Professor McGonagall he knew about Remus and the Shack — let alone that he was out with Remus last night. It had been one of Dumbledore's rules on allowing Remus to attend Hogwarts; no one could know.

"Can't - can't someone look through my mind?" James asked, grasping at straws. It wouldn't be so bad if it was Sirius or Remus.

Professor McGonagall looked at James thoughtfully.

"Looking through memories is a very evasive process and requires parent permission. Your parents are in Australia. An owl could take days."

"I'm of age. I don't need parent permission for something like that."

"But still, Potter. It is a very evasive process, someone will have to sift through your memories until they find sufficient enough proof that you did not commit the crime. Things you may not want people to know may be revealed and anything found can be used against you. I advise against it, Potter."

"If I do it, who can look through my memories? Who'll do it?"

"Either a teacher or-"

"I won't do it if it's a teacher. What if a prefect did it? Like Remus Lupin?"

"I'm afraid that wouldn't do, you see his judgement could be biased or he could lie for you. Everyone knows you are friends … Plus his other affliction."

"Can I go now?" James asked.

Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk and clasped her hands together, studying James as though he were an animal in _Magical Menagerie_. "Very well, you can go. You must stay in your common room. You are only allowed to leave for classes and meals."

"What about Head Boy duties and Quidditch?"

"Like I said, classes and meals only, Potter."

James squawked but Professor McGonagall didn't budge on her decision. James got up angrily and left Professor McGonagall's office wandering aimlessly in the corridors.

"Oi! Potter!" someone shouted and James froze for a moment, he knew the voice and he wasn't in the mood so he kept walking. "Potter!" she grabbed his arm and turned him around.

"What?" he snapped savagely and she took a slight step back and released his arm.

"You punched Andrew," she stated.

"So?"

" _So?_ " Lily echoed, "That's it?"

"I am not in the mood right now, Evans. Why don't you go nurse your boyfriend's nose?"

"Because I _am_ in the mood!" she exclaimed and James' fists clamped tighter.

"Well then, you're just all out of luck."

James was pushed into a wall, his head hitting the stone with a crack, his glasses askew. George Scott had James pressed against the wall, his wand pointed at James' throat.

"Woah!" Lily shouted, "Scott! Get off of him!" she demanded but Scott didn't seem to hear her, either that or he simply didn't care.

"I should just slit your throat open right now," Scott threatened James.

"I didn't," James pleaded, "Scott-"

"You tried to kill my baby sister!" he shouted for the entire corridor to hear and James froze as everyone turned to look.

"No!" James denied, "I promise, I didn't!"

"She told me that it was you! She told me!"

"I'm being framed! I don't know why she's saying that-"

"You calling my baby sister a liar!?"

For fucks sake. "No! Of course not — I just think the attacker is trying to frame me, maybe he confunded her or something! I don't know but I swear on my mum's life, it wasn't me! I don't even know your sister, why would I want to hurt her?"

"What is all this — Mr Scott, step away from Mr Potter at once!" Professor McGonagall demanded as she strode out of her office. Scott glared at James for another moment before he stepped back. "Everyone to your classes. Now! Mr Potter, common room as I believe you have a free period at the moment."

James shrugged his robes on and stormed down the corridor.

"James!" Lily called. " _James_!"

But he ignored her and kept walking. He wasn't in the mood.

Author's Note:

Hey guys,

Thanks for reading and for those that reviewed thank you so much, it means a lot to me :)

-Natalie


	7. Chapter 6: Furry Little Problem

James Potter had a problem. The problem was he had a problem because of something that actually wasn't his problem. Did you see his problem? No? Okay let's go back to second year.

In second year, James Potter found out a secret about Remus Lupin. A very serious one. You see, Remus Lupin is a werewolf. So In second year James, Sirius and Peter figured it out. Now let's skip to James' fifth year. In the fifth year, James turned into a stag becoming an illegal animagus along with Sirius and Peter. Now let's fast forward until last week on the Wednesday morning when Mia Scott was attacked. James, Sirius and Peter were coming back from Hogsmeade as a stag, a black dog and a small rat and made their way back to the castle under an invisibility cloak that James was sure would be confiscated if ever discovered by a teacher. The real problem, however, was the map, which would also be confiscated if ever discovered by a teacher. They'd left it in the Shrieking Shack.

That is the problem that caused James Potter to have a problem because now James couldn't let someone filter through his mind, certainly not a teacher. Firstly, it would expose Remus. Secondly, Sirius and Peter would be discovered as illegal animagi. Thirdly, Dumbledore could get in trouble if people found out he let a werewolf student into the school. All valid reasons to just hand Professor McGonagall his Head Boy badge now. Did you see his problem now?

"You're being blamed for almost killing a muggle-born?" Sirius spit out angrily. "That's ridiculous!"

"James just tell them!" Remus said and frustrated anger rose in James.

"Tell them what, Moony? That Sirius and Peter are animagi and that we run around with a werewolf once a month, escaping the castle using a magic map and an invisibility cloak? None of that is exactly legal, Moony! We'd all be in serious trouble, not just me."

"Tell them that you know I am a werewolf and I left something in the Shrieking Shack and that I asked you to fetch it for me."

"Remus, no!" James protested. "Professor Dumbledore would have to expel you for making me go off school premises. Just because you're allowed to go once a month doesn't mean we all are."

"Prongs, you are being accused of _attempted murder_! Dumbledore wouldn't expel me just for that! Padfoot talk to him!"

Sirius didn't say anything he just looked at James and Remus and thought that the great Marauders had gotten themselves into quite a pickle. "Well, it is the lesser of two evils. Two of you getting in trouble for a lesser crime, or one of you getting in trouble for the attempted murder of a muggle-born!"

"Moony, Professor McGonagall said I'll probably only lose my badges. Who cares about those anyways?"

"You do," Peter pointed out but everyone ignored him.

"I think that was best case scenario, Prongs," Remus said icily. "If they prove it was you, the Ministry would have to step in. They would have to!"

"They don't have a strong case!" James attempted to defend himself. "It's my word against hers!"

"And a failure of an alibi! Who are they going to believe, James? There weren't any witnesses-" — "Exactly!" — "If you don't use that as your excuse I will. The animagus bit doesn't even have to be mentioned. The excuse is brilliant! I can even say I accompanied you to the Shrieking Shack, well you accompanied me. It would give you an alibi!"

"Stop trying to be a martyr, Remus!" James roared, "I'm not throwing you into the wolves just so I can get out of something-"

"That isn't even your fault!" Remus interrupted. "I'd be glad to do it."

Peter put his hand up as though they were in class and he wanted to ask the teacher a question.

"What is it, Wormtail?" Sirius asked impatiently and Remus and James stopped throwing arguments back and forth like a quaffle.

"Well, it's just, if we use Moony's story there's a flaw. Whilst Professor Dumbledore might take Moony's word for Prongs's alibi, a-a lot of people don't trust werewolves-"

"Exactly! I'm not going to allow you to subject yourself to stupid prejudices that wizards and witches hold!"

"No, that wasn't Wormtail's point," Remus said faintly, "He's saying that they may discredit my statement anyways because I'm a monster."

"You're not a monster," Sirius denied immediately. That phrase was a reflex to those words. Remus doubted his self-being a lot because of his problem, it didn't matter who many times his mates and parents had assured him otherwise. Learning about werewolves in third year had been the worst. Professor Drake, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher when they were in third year, liked to have discussions about various dark creatures and the ethical issues with them. The 'discussion' about werewolves turned into a very heated debate when Avery, Yaxley, Snape and Aitken all proposed that werewolves should be locked up. Sirius had gotten a detention when he pulled his wand out and threatened to hex the lot of them, after that Professor Drake had concluded the discussion rather quickly. But Remus had been upset for two weeks about it, not even chocolate cheered him up.

"I know what I am, despite what you all think. I'm considered a beast, a savage," Remus said glumly. He sat on his bed and looked at the floor. Sirius, James and Peter all looked at each other. Creatures classified as a beast were creatures that were not intelligent enough to understand the laws of the magical community.

"Only _when_ you are in wolf form, stop being dramatic," James reminded him. "Besides, centaurs and merpeople are considered beasts and they aren't savage creatures."

"They're only listed as Beasts because they were too pretentious to be classified in the same group as hags and vampires and _requested_ to be classed as beasts!" Remus objected.

"You always help me with my homework," Peter spoke up and Remus looked up surprised at the seemingly irrelevant fact. "Beasts don't help chubby teenagers do their homework." Peter shrugged but those words seemed to resonate in Remus's mind like a saving grace. They sat there, so gracefully in his mind and seemed to make him see something that he couldn't before. But he didn't know what that 'something' was. He felt as though if his brain had fingers the 'something' would just be out of reach from the tips of those fingers.

"You sometimes take the fall for some of the crap Sirius and I pull," James said suddenly. "Monsters don't take claim of horror they did not commit. You're basically a Marauder Martyr."

"Besides," Sirius added, "If you're a monster, you're a very tamed monster. You've never physically hurt someone. You've never even hurt someone's feelings. You are a werewolf. That doesn't make you a monster. It just makes you a person with a potentially fatal power that most other people don't have but it's what you do with that power that makes all the difference between monster and martyr."

"Yeah," James backed Sirius up. "Look at Dumbledore! A great wizard like him and he sits behind a desk and never took one step towards the Dark Arts nor did he take one step towards the Ministry of Magic. He is the epitome of a martyred wizard. Voldemort," Peter shuddered but James pressed on, "Is the prime example of a monster. He is a great wizard but has chosen to dabble in dark magic. In magic so inhumane and horrible that he finds it fun to kill people for sport. He is a monster, Remus. He is the true definition of a monster. Now are you telling me that you can compare to Voldemort?" Remus smiled a little. "What do you think, Wormtail?"

"I think, Moony is a martyr."

"I agree," Sirius said.

"As do I. But I think I'd be a pretty shit friend if I allowed you to reveal to the world knowledge that would affect the way you're generally treated so Moony, I'm not going to take your alibi."

Remus seemed to accept that, "But there must be another way!"

"There isn't," James said and Sirius's eyes widened.

"James, could a prefect do it. A prefect other than Remus?"

"Who'd you have in mind? I guess we could ask Dumbledore."

"It couldn't hurt right?" Peter asked nervously.

"Of course it couldn't," Sirius brushed of Peter's worry immediately, "Lily Evans! She's Head Girl and she's not exactly our friend so her opinion wouldn't be considered bias! And we know her enough to trust her with our secret! She wouldn't tell, I'm sure of it!"

"Absolutely not!" James rejected the idea immediately. He would not have Lily Evans, of all people, look through his mind. Just the thought made James want to bury himself in a hole.

"I think it's a good idea," Peter said and James glared at him.

"You know what else is a good idea? Throwing myself off the Astronomy Tower straight after Lily Evans has basically read my mind!"

Did his friends not understand that if Lily Evans were to read James's mind it would be like a terrible nightmare come true where Lily would actually be able to _see_ just how much James adored Lily? It was completely mortifying. She would be able to see his most vulnerable parts.

"Sirius?"

"Padfoot can say what he wants. I'm not doing it and McGonagall said they can only do it if the person is willing to do it. In other words I have to give consent. I am NOT giving consent for Lily Evans to read my mind."

"But it could-"

"No," James said so firmly that the boys sighed and dropped the subject completely moving onto the homework they'd been given for Defence Against the Dark Arts that day.

—

"I mean, I don't understand why you didn't just tell me," Marlene said for the tenth time that morning.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Because you nag."

Marlene scowled, "I don't nag!"

"Marls, you nag. It's okay, it's funny most of the time unless you're being a pain in the arse about it. And so what? Mia and I have been dating for a few weeks. It's not a big deal."

"But why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because it isn't news."

"I disagree."

"You know, Henry got detention Monday night?"

"I know. The little shit," Marlene rolled her eyes. "He hexed Ara Black and stop trying to change the subject."

Nate sighed. "I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't be happy about me dating a fifth year. You hate anyone who isn't in our year on principle and it breaks our promise.

"Our promise?" Marlene echoed.

"Yeah, that we wouldn't date anyone we hated."

Marlene was quiet for a moment and then burst out laughing. "You didn't tell me who you were dating because of a promise we made in first year?"

Nate flushed and shrugged. Marlene wrapped an arm around his neck, "You are actually a dork."

"Shut up, nag."

"I hope you don't call Mia names," Marlene pursed her lips. "It's not very nice."

"And you're back to nagging. Can't we just sit in peace and do our Charms homework?"

—

Lily Evans was walking to the greenhouses when Andrew surprised her by sneaking up behind her and covering her eyes with his hand and saying, "Guess who?"

"Er," Lily mocked, "Ella?"

"Really?" he said unamused and Lily laughed as he moved, grabbing her hand in his and they were walking shoulder to shoulder.

"How was your morning?" Lily asked.

"I had Muggle Studies," Andrew shrugged, "So my brain hurts."

Lily laughed lightly, "Oh come on, muggles aren't that hard to understand!"

"They have magic that runs through special wires, it's odd," he complained and Lily shook her head.

"Hmm, well I was going to suggest we go to the library at lunch but if your brain hurts," Lily said, "Maybe I'll just go by myself."

"No, no, no! I'll come library with you."

"Did you read that book I gave you?" Lily asked remembering that she'd given Andrew her copy of Lord Of The Rings.

"That book is highly inaccurate and false! Don't know why you bothered with it to be honest. I left it in the Heads office for you when I went by to check the schedule."

Lily's heart sank a little bit. The Lord Of The Rings was one of her favourites. They entered the green houses as Lily tried to argue that the book is fiction and isn't meant to be accurate and true. Professor Postumus entered the Greenhouses and Andrew and Lily went their separate ways; Lily went and sat by Marlene, Ella, Alice and Adaline whilst Andrew went and sat by his bestfriend, Hannah Abbott. Hannah was the least frightening person in the year. She was a short, fair skinned, fair-haired girl and was so petite that her robes seemed to be able to fit a large, child-sized doll.

"Things are going okay with you and Andrew then?" Ella asked noticing Lily's smile.

"Yes," Lily said simply because happiness was simplicity. When you are asked why you are happy the answer comes easily however for any other emotion the answer usually is 'it's complicated'.

"Be quiet everyone!" Professor Postumus shouted and once she had everyones attention, she started a small lecture about a plant, called Arbdenius, that bears teeth should it come in contact with any living thing. Professor Postumus referred to them as, "nasty little things" and then proceeded to comfort the class by saying, "Don't worry, the most serious injury these plants have ever caused at Hogwarts is biting a finger or two off. Easy enough to regrow." She smiled as though losing your fingers was okay.

"Why did we pick Herbology again?" Adaline muttered.

But Lily couldn't find an answer. All the appeal she had had for Herbology was slipping by the more she looked at the seemingly harmless but actually gruesome plant. It was like a miniature tree with a thick, brown trunk with small tiny leaves spreading off unusually short and small branches. Professor Postumus informed them that inside the trunk was some sort of liquid, called _Arbden_ , that they used in a potion called, _Memhibeo_ to fix people who have been confunded. She also informed the class that their task was to extract the Arbden out of the hole in the small, hollow trunk coincidentally where the teeth are.

"I've no idea," Lily whispered back, as she looked at the dull plant.

When class finished the students were glad beyond reasonable measure. Daisy Ellery had received a deep cut on her finger and Peter was sent to the Hospital Wing when the Arbdenius left his finger hanging off his hand with only a nerve or two still connecting his finger to his hand. Sirius made a big deal of it and acted as though Peter was dying whilst James looked as though he could hurl at any second, a thought that made Lily quite happy, in the end Remus had ended up escorting him.

Another thought that made Lily quite happy was the idea of Andrew and her in the library. Andrew waltzed up to her after Herbology and immediately started to talk about the bizarreness of the Arbdenius plant.

They walked to the library and once there Lily was about to unpack her bag to start the Herbology essay on the properties of the Arbdenius plant when Andrew pulled her behind a shelf. This aisle was particularly tall with books looking down on them, hundreds and hundreds of names staring them down and the aisle was also particularly deserted. Before Lily knew what was even happening Andrew's lips were an inch away from hers and she had a second to decide whether or not she wanted to kiss him. His hands were on her waist, pulling her closer and his lips looked so kissable. Lily wrapped her arms around Andrew's neck and their lips teased each other before they finally touched.

His lips were rough and tasted like peppermint. His hands ran up and down her body and Lily liked the way the fabric of her uniform rumpled under his hands.

"I like you, a lot," Andrew murmured with his eyes closed, his forehead against Lily's. Butterflies seemed to fly in her stomach and she blushed.

"I like you too," she admitted and her lips found his again.

They'd been kissing a while when they heard someone cough at the beginning of the aisle. They broke apart immediately and James Potter stood there with a sullen smirk on his face and his arms crossed against his chest.

"Kissing your boyfriend better, Evans? Even I thought you had more class than the aisles in the library," he said coolly and blood rushed to Lily's cheeks. "But I suppose your boyfie needs cheering up after last night, to assert dominance or whatever it was you were prattling on about."

"Asserting dominance?" Lily echoed and Andrew stiffened. James smiled in delight.

"He didn't tell you? I broke his nose last night after he warned me to stay away from you," James said gleefully and then he looked confused, "I thought he would've told you, you know being so close and all."

"You're a git, Potter," Andrew said through gritted teeth. "Why don't you tell Lily about how you've been identified as the attacker of Mia Scott!"

Lily pushed back Andrew so she could face James and Andrew at the same time.

"Firstly, I don't, you don't get to tell me who I can or can't talk to!" Lily fired up at Andrew, "If we're going to be something, let's get that straight from now."

James started to walk away but Lily held up her hand to point at him, "And you!" she accused, "What the heck are you doing? I thought I told you that you need to act responsibly now! Punching people! Really?"

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" James asked wearily.

"We didn't finish it!" Lily said hotly.

"I rather thought being pushed into a wall and being accused of murder was a rather colourful finish to the conversation."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Seriously, James? Punching people? I read Snape and Aitkens points taken slips."

"I hope you didn't bloody sign them!"

"Well, of course I did! You punched him!"

"That's what you're concerned about?" Andrew butted in, astonished. "He attacked a muggle-born!"

Lily scoffed, "Potter's mother runs an organisation against magic used for evil. If Potter attacked Scott than I'm the Minister of Magic."

"You believe I didn't do it?" James asked immediately. His smirking face turned serious and his eyes penetrated Lily in such a way that she couldn't think for a few seconds.

"Of course not," she said snapping out of it. "Now get on with it, Potter. I was in the middle of a good snog and mind you don't do anything stupid!" she called after him as he turned to walk away.

—

Ella and Michael sat in Potions and to say it was awkward was an understatement. Ella was sure that Godric Gryffindor's sword wouldn't be able to cut through this awkwardness. Michael sat stony faced, facing the front and Ella did the same, their chairs as far apart as the table would allow.

Ella had been hoping that they could go back to being friends and just pretend that nothing ever happened but apparently not and she was shocked by how much she missed his witty comments during Slughorn's lectures. Sighing, she scribbled into the open textbook they shared, ' _I'm sorry, truce?'_

He glanced at it and wrote, _'No_ '. Ella sighed and fell back into her seat, crossing her arms. She was grateful when the bell rung for exactly a minute because a minute was all it took for Marlene to come up to Ella and start poking around.

"Was Putley okay? You two seemed off today."

"It's fine, Marlene." Ella sulked and pretended to be distracted by reading a random piece of parchment she'd randomly grabbed from her back in the hopes of fooling Marlene into thinking Ella was too busy to talk.

"Are you sure? Because you two didn't speak one word to each other."

This was what Marlene did. She nagged until the person gave in and Ella, not bothered to be subject to that gave in pretty quickly. She shoved the parchment back in her bag. "He kissed me and then asked me on a date. I said no. He doesn't want to get over it. It's nothing."

"Ella -!"

"Leave it alone, Marlene."

Marlene shut her mouth. "You should accept his date," she said quietly as the reached the entrance hall.

"Marls," Ella complained, "I don't want to talk about it and I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions."

"Right. I was just saying."

"Well, don't. I'm just glad the stupid assignment is due tomorrow so I can stop sitting with him in Potions."

—

By dinner everyone was still talking about how James Potter had supposedly attacked the muggle-born girl and it bothered Lily. She may not be friends with James but you had to talk to the bloke for all of five minutes to know that he wasn't a murderer.

"Lily," Ella said, "You've been quiet. Everything okay?"

"It's just, do you think Potter really attacked Scott?" Lily questioned as she played with the food on her plate, pushing it around with her fork.

"I don't know, Lily. I mean she said she saw him. She's identified him as the attacker. Why would she lie?" Marlene asked and Alice nodded in agreement.

"We're wizards and witches for the love of Merlin, someone could have confunded her!" Lily defended.

"But why would they confund her to say, Potter?" Alice questioned, "If he's innocent, it will only come out in the end that she was confunded. It would've been smarter to confund her to say that she didn't know who the attacker was. It doesn't make sense, Lily."

But it made sense to Lily. Someone was framing Potter and she wanted to know why. Lily fell asleep that night trying to think of plans to prove Potter was innocent. She didn't know why it mattered so much. It just did. They'd had their fights and arguments but at the end of the day she knew he was a good guy where it counted and he didn't deserve to be falsely accused of attempted murder — Lily simply refused to believe he was being correctly accused of it. The boy with the hurricane of hair, who laughed to much, had dimples when he smiled — he couldn't be capable of murder. The boy who held her so tenderly and who almost cried when she told him she didn't have feelings for him. No, he was not capable of murder. Lily was sure of it and that got her to thinking who was actually to blame. A Slytherin — her blood ran cold when Snape's name popped into her mind — or anyone really from those old pure-blood families who believed strongly in what Voldemort was doing and it would definitely have to be an older student. Sixth or Seventh years, fifth years may be pushing it but it wasn't entirely impossible. There were a few Selwyns in Ravenclaw — that family was always pushing for anti-muggle laws — and there were the Aitken sisters — their dad was a rumoured Death Eater — and then there was Rosier, Yaxley and Mulciber, they were as bad as could be and everyone _knew_ their parents were right in Voldemort's inner circle.

"Lily — earth to Lily," Ella snapped her fingers in front of Lily's face. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking," she said shaking her head to snap out of her thoughts. "You really think Potter tried to _kill_ someone?"

Ella hesitated. "No. I don't but the evidence is piling up against him."

"He doesn't have an alibi," Alice commented.

"And Scott herself named him as her attacker and I heard from Daisy that Madam Pomfrey couldn't find any signs of being confunded."

Lily frowned. The evidence was piling up against Potter, still didn't mean he had done it. There were at least fifteen people that Lily could name who would be more likely to have done this kind of crime and Potter wasn't one of them.

—

In the first week of October, Lily and James were finally scheduled to patrol together for the first time. Andrew had Quidditch practice almost every afternoon and Lily, for some reason unbeknownst to herself, felt compelled to pair herself with James. They met at the Heads' Office and Lily felt James staring at her.

"Shall we get on with it then?" Lily asked and James nodded.

"Want to start with the basement and make our way up and then back down?"

Lily agreed and they walked down to the basements.

"Evans, why did you patrol us together?"

Lily shrugged, "I figured we were Head Boy and Girl and we should patrol together a few times you know, just because. I think we should patrol together at least once or twice a month."

"On one condition," James said and Lily looked at him. "During patrols we pretend that we're friends."

Lily smiled, "Done. But only during patrols. I don't want people to think I hang out with riff raff like you," she sniffed snootily.

"Careful, Evans. I might hex you."

"Lily. You can call me Lily."

"But everyone calls you Lily."

"Well it's my name."

"I'll have to come up with a nickname for you."

Lily smiled. In the basement, James caught a scrawny pair of third years in a broom closet, who seemed completely mortified at being caught, and Lily had to stifle a laugh at seeing James act with authority. It was such an odd sight on him. He was always on the other side of authority.

"What's so funny, Evans?"

"Nothing, I promise."

They headed up to the first floor and James looked at Lily thoughtfully. "So are you and Fortescue official now?"

"Wouldn't be snogging him in libraries if we weren't," Lily said honestly and James blushed a little. Lily laughed.

"You act like you've never heard the word snog," she snorted.

"I'll have you know I've snogged a lot of people in my seventeen years!"

"Like Helena Bonham?" Lily said holding back a giggle but she knew that a part of her was generally curious, just like another part of her would want to rip out Bonham's hair if he confirmed it.

"We snogged a couple of times over the summer. It wasn't a big deal and I'll have you know that my last relationship was with a fourth year Ravenclaw last year and it lasted all of three weeks."

"Oh yes, I remember. It was very scandalous. James Potter loves a younger woman. Who was it again?"

"Aria McKinnon," James said bobbing his head down in shame.

"Ah, that's right. Nate broke his hand breaking your jaw. Oh the memories," Lily said fondly. "Right in the middle of the Entrance Hall too."

"Rub it in then. What about you and Fortescue?"

"I'm still in that relationship," Lily frowned.

"Exactly," James said, "You could do better than that Hufflepuff bumblebee."

"That's my boyfriend you are talking about, Potter."

"He's still a Hufflepuff bumblebee. Sorry, I don't make the rules," he said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"No, you just make it your life goal to break as many of them as possible."

"Hey, I'm just looking for a good time, if I break a few rules along the way, it's just a part of the experience."

Lily shook her head as she chuckled.

"You know, on Tuesday, I found a book — Lord of the Rings — in the Heads office, I gave it a read and it was amazing," he smiled. "Was it yours?"

"Yes — wait you actually liked it?" she asked excitedly.

"I bloody loved it! You'd have to be mental not to like it!"

"That's what I said!" Lily exclaimed, nudging his arm. "Andrew said it was inaccurate and false," she rolled her eyes.

"It's a piece of fiction — brilliant fiction, might I add — it's not supposed to be accurate and true."

Lily nudged him again, "That's what I said!"

Once they'd exhausted all topics on Lord of the Rings, James grew rather bored and said, "Let's play a game."

"What kind of game?" Lily asked as she opened the door to another broom closet.

"I don't know. Why don't we just ask each other questions and we have to answer honestly?"

Lily shrugged and agreed. She could use the game to her advantage.

"What's your favourite flower?" James asked her and Lily looked at him. "I've always wondered if your favourite flowers were lilies because of your name."

"No, actually. My favourite flower is a peony. What's your favourite flower?" Lily asked as a joke but James answered seriously.

"Water lilies. My mum has a huge green house at the back of our estate and she's got a huge pond in it and it's just filled with water lilies. I'll have to show you some time. It's quite pretty."

Lily gagged and James laughed and nudged her with his elbow. "Why did you really change the schedule?" he asked and Lily lost her smile and sighed.

"Honestly?" she asked and he nodded. Lily looked away and focused on the end of the corridor. "I wanted to know why the entire school thinks you attempted to murder Mia Scott."

James informed her of the story about the night in the hospital and Lily pursed her lips.

"Really, James?" she asked appalled. "You faked being sick just so you could talk to her?"

"Hey," James said defensively, "Don't give me that. I was just hoping she would tell me so I could tell the teachers. I don't like the idea of someone wandering around the castle looking for witches and wizards to kill."

"You mean muggle-borns," Lily said softly.

"No, I mean witches and wizards. Just because your parents aren't a witch and wizard doesn't make you or anyone else any less of a witch or wizard. I hate that pure-blood, half-blood and muggle-born nonsense because it is just that: nonsense and not to mention completely ridiculous. I mean look at you! You don't have any wizard ancestry and you beat _me_ in a duel and I am from wizard ancestry. Those categories are only still here because of the pure-bloods and their wanting to keep the old ways," James rolled his eyes. "I mean they are completely ridiculous. Look at Sirius, his entire family apart from his Uncle Alphard and his cousin Andromeda disowned him just because he didn't believe in that pure-blood vs muggle-born nonsense. If that's what being a pure-blood means, then I hope the lot of them die in this stupid war that they've started."  
Lily smiled softly. "Do you think the war will end soon?"

"No," James said, "I think it's just begun. You know, up until recently I wanted to be a professional Quidditch player."

"What do you want to be now?"

"An Auror."

"Why?"

"Because, being an auror, it isn't easy but it isn't easy because it makes a difference. If I can save lives, if I can capture Death Eaters than who cares if it isn't easy because innocent people will be alive because of me," James shrugged, "It'd make me fall asleep better at night."

"You're so lucky," Lily murmured. "You know what you want to do. You have two possible paths: Quidditch or the Auror Department. So simple. I've no idea what I want to do."

"I think you'd make a good healer or an auror."

Lily scrunched up her nose, "I don't know … why do you think someone is trying to frame you?"

"I think you've had like three questions in a row!" he accused, then shrugged, "Beats me. Apparently an Auror is coming from the ministry to investigate now that they have no leads."

"An Auror? Are they going to question you? And after this you can ask me three questions promise."

"Four," James grinned. "And apparently, it's the same Auror that was here when it happened. You know, questioned her and her friends and some of the people in her classes, Professor Flitwick. They didn't find much. They think they've hit a pot of gold with me," James said bitterly.

"Well, we'll just have to prove them wrong," Lily said crossing her arms.

"We?"

"Do you want my help or not?"

James stayed quiet for a few moments and somehow Lily knew what he was going to say and a feeling rose in her. It was like a ship going down in flames; sinking but mad.

"Five," — Lily shook her head — "And I don't want your help."

Lily smiled politely, "I see, only friends during patrols. And four! You just asked me a question."

"Five! I did not! And I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that you don't have to help me. I got myself into this mess, I can get myself out."

"Ah, that arrogance of yours is showing, or is it your ego? I can't tell. And four! You asked me 'we?' after I said 'we'll have to prove them wrong'!"

"That wasn't a question! And I'm not arrogant!"

"Then it must be your ego showing. And if it wasn't a question what was it?" Lily asked quirking her eyebrow up.

James struggled for a moment, "It was, it was confirmation!"

"Ha! You didn't deny that your egotistical!" Lily exclaimed pointing at him with a victorious smirk. "And that's a weak argument, Potter, even for you. Four."

James rolled his eyes. "Five and I am _not_ egotistical!"

Lily scoffed as she peered into an empty classroom, "Sure. Four."

"Five! I'm not!"

"Four. You are!"

"Five. Am not!"

"Four. You are!"

"Five. Am not!"

"Four. You are!"

"Five. Am not!"

"Agree to disagree?" Lily sighed finally.

"On which one?" James asked suspiciously.

"Both."

"Yes but five."

Lily rolled her eyes and muttered, "Four," under her breath.


	8. Chapter 7: Stubborn Minds

James Potter and Sirius Black agreed on most things. They agreed on which pranks they should pull on whom and when. They agreed on which points were valid in an essay. They agreed on the easiest curses to use in a duel. They even agreed that cotton bed sheets felt nicer than silk ones. One thing they did not agree about was the state of James' mind. James Potter thought he was quite an un-stubborn, go with the flow, sort of person. Sirius disagreed.

"You are the most stubborn person ever!" Sirius announced after he came out of an interrogation with the Auror named Miss Beth Pierce. The name sort of suited her, at least the last name did. When James first met her he couldn't look away from her eyes. They were a blue he had never really seen before – at least not in eyes. They were dark and deep like the ocean on a sunny day and they pierced him with such an intensity that it made James ring a finger on the inside of his collar.

"What have I done now?" James skulked.

"Being stubborn, is what you've done!" Sirius accused.

"Helpful," James replied dryly. "And I'm not stubborn."

"Yes, well, you know what would be helpful? If your mother wasn't pestering me about making sure you don't get shipped off to Azkaban because of your bloody pride or whatever and because you are being accused of attempted freaking murder! Like seriously, Prongs!"

"Why must you be so dra – you told my mother!?" James shouted having finally registered what Sirius had said. It's not like he wasn't _ever_ going to tell his mum. He'd just been hoping nothing exceptionably terrible, like being locked in Azkaban, would happen and that he'd be found innocent then he could just brush it off as a misunderstanding. He'd rather avoid getting her worried and the lecture that worry always accompanied but of course, Sirius just couldn't keep his mouth shut and now James was just thanking Merlin that his mother hadn't sent a howler … but there was still time.

Sirius scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Well, she wrote to me and I forgot that you hadn't told her and I was talking about the awful Pierce Auror and yeah."

"You're a bloody moron, Padfoot! Hope you know that! She's probably going to go off her rocker and send me a bloody howler or something."

"Who's getting sent a howler?" Remus chimed in as he walked into their dormitory, slinging his bag onto his bed. "How was the interrogation, Sirius?"

"It was wonderful! The highlight of my day! The moment I have been waiting for all my life!" he said sarcastically, "The evidence is piling up against Prongs and I'm like ninety percent sure he's getting himself a one way ticket to Azkaban unless he lets Evans read his mind and testify for him."

"Testify?" James said shocked, "Relax mate, I haven't been charged."

"Yet!"

"Oh well," Remus pulled out a textbook from his bag and sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard, "You can always go into hiding as a deer. No one apart from us knows you're an animagus. We'd take your secret to the grave."

"Great. That's how I want to spend the rest of my life. As a large animal with antlers."

"Glad that's your life ambition," Sirius said, "Because by the looks of things that's where you're headed if you don't let Evans read your bloody mind!"

"Sod off! Why don't you let Dearborn read your mind and we'll see how easy it is!"

"If it was between the choice of looking like a dork or going to Azkaban, I would pick looking like a dork!"

"I'm not a dork, git, and I'm not stubborn."

Sirius snorted but didn't say anything and James saw Remus trying to hide a smile. Bloody hell, he was a dork when it came to Lily Evans. Add that to the list of reasons in James Potter's mind as to why Lily Evans shouldn't look through his memories. Just the thought of the idea had James cringing. Lily knew James had fancied her — hell, they'd been hooking up for two months at the end of last year — he had asked her out once or twice – quite embarrassingly he might add – and he'd had his heart crushed once or twice but there was no reason that he should endure himself to more personal humiliation if he could help it.

"I can't believe you'd rather go to Azkaban than let Evans read your mind," Peter commented.

Except, of course, that the alternative was a one way ticket to Azkaban.

—

Lily Evans couldn't help it. Her mind was just too stubborn for her own good sometimes and she knew it. She couldn't help it. Once she wanted something she _wanted_ it.

"Where are you going, Lily?" Ella put down the book on ancient charms down when Lily tried to slip out of the dormitory just before curfew. Lily shut her eyes before opening them and turning around.

"For a walk," Lily said, "It's stuffy in here."

Ella and Marlene raised their eyebrows. It was anything but stuffy, a cold chill had been in the castle for days and students and teachers alike were wearing multiple coats and some even wore gloves and beanies, however the latter was more common with the students though Professor Scrivens did seem to love her thick beanie with some sort of bear ears sewn onto the top.

"Right, you've been acting funny, Miss Lily Evans," Marlene sat up in bed, putting her fists on her hips. "And it's about time you told us why!"

"It's nothing," Lily sighed.

"If you're sneaking out of the dorm ten minutes before curfew, it's not nothing. You're not leaving 'til you tell us."

"I know what it is," Alice sung as she came out of the bathroom. Her hair was wet and ratty and she had a fluffy bath robe wrapped around her like a burrito. Lily's cheeks flushed a little. "You see," Alice continued, sitting on her bed, running a comb through her thin hair, "I heard from Helena Bonham, and let me remind you that her and Andrew are like besties – grew-up-together,-I'll-always-be-your-mate kind of besties." Lily felt annoyance at that and she couldn't quite put her finger on why. It wasn't the fact that they were friends, it was something else. "And she said that Andrew was acting strange and was planning to sneak out at around curfew. She told me she was worried. Now I get to tell her that her best friend was just snogging Lily in a broom closet."

Lily's cheeks flushed further as the girls giggled so Lily decided it was time to save some of her dignity. "If you must know, we sneak into the green houses to snog."

The girls fell silent and their mouths hung open a little like they had forgotten that their lips could actually touch.

"Who knew this day would come?" Marlene asked. "Lily Evans. Sneaking out to snog her boyfriend. The Head Girl. Staying out."

"Past curfew, breaking curfew," Ella added.

"To do something as common as snog in a broom closet," Alice dramatically continued the teasing. "All those times she didn't understand and now, now she is one of us!"

"Oh, you are all such bullies," Adaline rolled her eyes. "Let Lily go snog in a broom closet in peace."

"Greenhouses," Lily muttered though no one was really paying attention. "Well, see you later then."

Lily slipped out of the dormitory before anyone could say anything and flew into the common room only to quite literally run into someone in the portrait hole. The someone grabbed her arm firmly to steady both her and him (Lily could tell it was a him from the cologne). She looked up and saw James Potter's hazel, shimmery eyes looking at her curiously. She gulped as his eyes bore into her for merely a moment.

"Evans."

"Potter."

"What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?"

"Coming back from a three hour interrogation with a bloody dim witted auror. Where you off to?"

"Three hours?" Lily cocked her head back. "Do they really believe you had the brains to kill someone?"

"Apparently," James said bitterly, shoving his hands in his pockets and Lily bit her lip. The urge of wanting to help him grew stronger by the second.

"For what it's worth, Potter, I'm sorry that this is happening to you. Have you told your parents?"  
"Sirius spilled to mum. She's apparated to Hogsmeade from Australia. She's staying at the Three Broomsticks. Rosemerta's been treating her to free firewhiskey I've been told."

Lily didn't really know what to say. "Can we just pretend we're friends for like ten seconds?"

"Why?" James asked, cautiously.

"Because I don't know what to say and so I want to hug you."

 _Oh_ , James thought. "All right then."

Lily reached her arms up and around James's neck looping them lightly around his neck and James' arms wrapped tenderly around her torso. They didn't say anything but nothing needed to be said. Their arms had fit around each other so easily and it felt so _right_ like they were supposed to do this for the rest of their lives. Lily felt like burying her face in his neck like she use to. His neck was always so warm and smelled like … _James_ , like sage and pepper and maybe a hint of cedar or tabaco. She could stay in his arms forever.

"Everything will be okay," she whispered before leaning away, perhaps too quickly, and stepping back much to James' — and her own — disappointment. Lily always felt as though a hug made it easier to know what to say and easier to say something but she hadn't thought one hug with James would make her miss how things use to be.

"So where you off to, Marie?"

"Marie?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, your favourite flower is a Peony but you can't get a good nickname out of that which really makes me question whether if it is a nice flower. I mean flowers that are known for being pretty have good names, like Rose, Rose is a good nickname for a person," James babbled on and Lily raised an eyebrow. "Anyway so I had to came up for another nickname for you – something not flower related and then it came to me."

"It came to you?"

James grinned, "Yep," he said popping the 'P'. "Marie, Queen of Scots. She was an extraordinary witch – was a Queen at only six days old of muggles! And then she chose, instead of going into the magical world like her mother, to rule the muggles and she did so fairly, never using magic to gain an upper hand. Extraordinary woman," James repeated, he glanced at Lily, scared that she had found him boring but she looked interested – at least he hoped she did. "And she was Scottish, which makes me think of red hair and ta da. Marie."

"You've really thought about it haven't you?" Lily said.

"Yep," he said popping the 'P' again. An extraordinary girl should be nicknamed after an extraordinary woman and who knows, maybe when she grows into a woman, people will say she was extraordinary.

Lily tried to stifle her sly smile but it shone through and James caught it and he smiled crookedly back at her, their eyes locked on each other.

"But," he continued, "You're avoiding the question. Where're you going?"

"Uh, meeting up with Andrew," Lily muttered. She didn't know why but it felt awkward to disclose that piece of information with James and she thought she saw his eyes flicker in disappointment and his grin dimmed. She tucked a piece of dark red hair behind her ear and looked at the floor, rolling her foot onto the side nervously.

"I see. Well," James said stepping out of the portrait hole and into the common room, "I shouldn't keep you from Prince Ice Cream." He gestured his hand towards the portrait hole as though it was some grand entrance to a spectacular ball or event.

"Uh, see you, I guess? And Potter, if you need help, you know, with the whole attempted murder thing. I'd be happy to help in any way I can."

"I don't want your help, Evans. Now run along before Ice Cream Prince thinks you've been slit at the throat." Lily was shocked at that and James must've noticed he'd crossed a line and apologised. "Sorry. The interrogation. It's gotten me on edge. But you know. You shouldn't be sneaking around after curfew. They believe it's me but it's not so the castle is still really unsafe especially for muggle-borns."

"I thought you don't believe in those titles."

"Doesn't mean other people don't, A.K.A the attacker," James pointed out and Lily had to agree with that piece of logic.

"I'll be careful."

"You know it's a few minutes passed curfew, as Head Boy I should dock a few points off Gryffindor but I won't because I love Gryffindor too much to do that."

"Thanks, Potter," Lily snorted.

"Go get yourself a snog then."

Lily smiled at the forced encouragement and waved bye before flitting out into the corridor.

"It's about time," the Fat Lady said and Lily muttered an apology before fleeing to the greenhouses using a simple unlocking charm to open the door. Andrew was inspecting a Tantactula and smiled when he saw Lily walk in. No time was wasted and Lily was in his arms before they could even murmur a word. Lily didn't get back to her dormitory until past midnight, she fell asleep like a baby.

—

Sirius Black couldn't sleep. Something felt wrong about the world and it was bothering him to say the least. The world had never been perfectly aligned in Sirius' eyes but it had never felt wrong. Unfairness ran through his life like water flowed in the oceans but _his_ life had always been unfair. Not other peoples — well, except Remus but Sirius had chalked that down to unluckiness not unfairness. But now his best mate, his brother, was going down for something he didn't even do and it was unfair.

James Potter the boy who had it all — perfect family, perfect grades, natural Quidditch skills that others only hoped to perfect — his life was suddenly unfair because someone wanted James to take the blame for something he didn't do. It wasn't fair and that made the world feel wrong.

Sirius had always been under the illusion that only his life was unfair. He'd been dealt a shit hand — crappy parents, bat crazy family, a brother to weak to stand up for what was right. He'd been disowned, blasted off of his family tree and suddenly, he wasn't a Black anymore. Sure he still used the name but he liked to think he had given it a different meaning because he wasn't a Black in the sense that his mother believed to be true. He didn't hold his life above others, he wasn't stuck-up, he wasn't cruel like Bella. He wasn't silent and accepting like Narcissa and Regulus. At least, he liked to believe he wasn't all those things. He liked to believe he wasn't a Black in that sense. The good looks, charm and brains he'd take, though. They'd serve him well in life. But he wasn't sweet or gentle like Andromeda either. He supposed he had her back-bone though. The back-bone it took to actually walk away from everything he had ever known. He was stuck somewhere in the middle of all the Blacks. Not mean like his mum but not kind and gentle like Andromeda either. Too smart for his own good but not smart enough to know what to do with it. Not weak like Regulus but not strong like Andromeda. You see, he knew that the Potters would take him in and the truth was he probably wouldn't have left if he hadn't known that. Andromeda left with no one to go to except Ted. So his life had always been shit. He'd have that internal struggle and he found it unfair. Why should he question his character because of the family he was born in to? Why should he question whether or not he truly believed in the morals he knows he believes in because of the family he was born in to? Why should he be stuck with a family that was so obviously wrong for him? And he'd come to the conclusion, in fourth year, that his life was unfair.

He never whined about it though because he was also lucky. He was lucky he had three mates he could call brothers. He was lucky that he had two people who would be glad to call Sirius their son despite that not being true. He was lucky because despite all that unfairness, his life had turned out pretty good.

"Prongs," Sirius whispered. "You up?"

"I am now," he grumbled and Sirius lay on his back, his hands behind his head. His mind going a mile a minute. "What's wrong?"

"This isn't fair."

James was quiet for a minute and Sirius heard him sigh. "I know, mate. It'll work itself out."

"It better because I won't visit you in Azkaban."

"As long as you promise to break me out," James yawned.

Sirius chuckled. "What do you think would happen if you transformed and charged at a dementor with your antlers?"

"That's your plan?" James asked. "Let me charge at a dementor as a stag. Well, I always was the mastermind."

"Shove off, you git."

"Go to bed, Padfoot."

Sirius nodded. "'Night."

"Night," James mumbled, already half asleep. Sirius stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours until sleep finally washed over him.

—

The next morning, Lily was reading the Daily Prophet, a young muggle family had been killed and the Ministry suspected that it was the Death Eaters by the name of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange — the woman was Sirius' cousin. A photo of the couple was placed under the headline. It was a photo from some sort of function. Both wore perfectly tailored dress robes, Bellatrix's hair and make-up impeccable. She was a gorgeous woman with light, hooded eyes and high cheek bones and a posture that radiated confidence. A pendant of the Black family crest hung around her neck on a long chain, the pendant resting between her breasts.

"What are you reading?" Ella asked sitting next to Lily. She read the headline over Lily's shoulder and frowned. "Oh. It's getting worse isn't it?"  
Lily nodded and was about to say something when a small first year girl tapped her shoulder.

"Hello," Lily said politely.

"I was meant to give this to you," she stammered fumbling a piece of rolled up parchment.

Lily took it off her and she scrambled away. Lily rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to bite the first year's head off.

"Open it then," Ella urged. Lily rolled open the parchment and read:

 _Miss Lily Evans, you are required to talk to Auror Beth Pierce about the events concerning Mia Scott and James Potter on the 28_ _th_ _of September, 1977. Your appointment is scheduled today at nine thirty am. If this time does not suit you please go to Miss Pierce's office and discuss another arrangement. Professor McGonagall._

"You're being questioned about the attack, why?" Ella asked worriedly.

"I'm sure it's just routine questioning," Lily assured her though she did wonder why she was being questioned. James was interrogated for three hours, Lily hoped that her 'questioning' wouldn't take that long but then again, Lily didn't have much to say.

—

"You look terrible, Black," Ella commented as she took a seat next to him in Charms.

"Is there a reason you're annoying me, Dearborn?" Sirius balanced on the back two legs of his chair.

"Not particularly, except that I'm avoiding Marlene. Is there any particular reason that I can't sit here?"

Sirius considered. "I guess not."

"Brilliant."

"Why're you avoiding Adams then?"

Ella shrugged. "She's bothering me."

"Elaborate."

"So why do you look like the waking dead?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Why?"

He shrugged, "I just couldn't."

"You know, Potter better get himself an alibi," Ella told Sirius.

Sirius snapped back to the ground, turning to her. "Did you hear something?"

Ella looked at him. "No, it's just that Lily is being interviewed by that Auror today and Lily hardly talks with James so if they're questioning her … they're taking this very seriously, Black."

His eyebrows drew in. He already knew it was serious. His mate was being accused of attempted murder. James' mother was threatening to sue the Auror Department for even suspecting him — it's the only reason why they haven't pressed formal charges yet. Euphemia said it should be obvious that the girl's brain had been addled with because her son would never do this and Sirius had to agree with her on that one.

"Where is Potter anyways?"

Sirius shrugged as Professor Scrivens walked in and demanded quiet. He didn't want to give Dearborn an answer because James was probably off drinking somewhere because this was serious and if news got out that James was skipping classes to get drunk — well it wouldn't help his case.

Professor Scrivens announced that they would be practicing how to deflect physical objects using a shield charm and naturally, Remus and Peter partnered up so Sirius was stuck with Ella since James skipped class. They pushed all the desks to the side of the classroom and then paired up, with Ella throwing pebbles at Sirius and him easily deflecting them.

"So why're you really avoiding Adams?"

Ella frowned. She didn't want to tell him. "We're supposed to be practicing."

"Please, I could do this in fourth year. Come on, just tell me. It's not like I'll tell anyone."

"You tell Potter everything," Ella rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but Prongs and I are like one person so it doesn't count. Come on, Dearborn, just tell me."

She sighed. "She's annoying me about Michael Putley. She thinks I should date him."

"That's it?"

"Marlene won't drop the subject until I'm married to Putley with two to three kids."

Sirius chuckled. "What's so bad about Putley anyways?"

"Nothing. He's great."

"So?"

"It's me."

"What about you?"

"He doesn't want a girl like me. I've daddy issues."

"Maybe we should date. I've got mummy issues. You've got daddy issues. We'd be the hottest fucked up couple at Hogwarts." He winked at her and Ella laughed at the absurdness.

"Anyway, so Marlene won't drop it and so I'm avoiding her. Let's swap, I want to try."

Sirius obliged, Ella handed over the bucket of pebbles and pulling out her wand. He started tossing them at her and she started to deflect them.

"Huh, this is easy. It's just like a regular shield charm."

"Don't know why we're even bothering to practice," Sirius agreed.

Nonetheless, he continued throwing rocks for her to deflect as they talked.

—

At nine thirty, Lily went to Miss Pierce's office. It was in a skinny corridor off the second floor corridor and the walls were plastered with portraits of old, important people. Lily recognised the portrait of Gerald Bonsworth, the wizard who added Arbden liquid into the Memhibeo potion in 1673. He had a bushy beard and was inspecting the Arbdenus plant, Lily recognised the tiny leaves and fat trunk easily.

Lily found the door to Miss Pierce's office and it had a shiny, silver plaque against the dirty, dusty wooden door that read 'Miss Beth Price. Auror.' Lily took a breath before knocking and it seemed to echo around the corridor.

"Come in," Lily heard a voice, a click in the door and it swung open. Lily walked in cautiously and closed the door behind her.

Beth Pierce was an interesting woman. She had stiff, blue eyes and a crop of brown hair that seemed to sit in a perfect straight line level with her jaw. She wore a well-tailored, skirt suit under her black robes and glasses hung on a purple beaded string around her neck. Her nails seemed unbelievably long and her long fingers were adorned with stoned rings. Lily felt quite intimidated by the woman. She seemed to be all sharp edges, from the hair to the strong jaw line to the suit.

"Lily Evans!" Pierce exclaimed as though she had known Lily all her whole life. "Please sit," she said gesturing to a seat in front of her old wooden desk that had a stack of papers taller than Lily's wand on it. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Er, pleasure to meet you as well," Lily said for a lack of anything else to say. Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and tried to straighten out her uniform. She understood now why James was on edge last night.

"So, I guess you're wondering why I've brought you in for questioning?"

"Obviously," Lily said and Pierce smiled impolitely at Lily before continuing.

"Well seeing as Mr Potter is Head Boy and you're Head Girl, the Ministry thought it prudent to cover all our basis. We are interviewing anyone who knows Mr Potter in anyway."

"Well, that's going to be hard," Lily remarked. "The entire school has an opinion on James Potter," Lily rolled her eyes. "He's the most popular boy in school. That's like saying you're going to interview any person who knows Professor Dumbledore. You'll be here all year."

"Right," said Pierce doubtfully. "I'll deal with that. Now, can you tell me what you think of James Potter?"

"That's a very broad question. Can you be more specific?"

"What do you think of his morals and his character?"

"Potter is nice enough. We aren't friends or anything but anyone who talks to Potter for more than five minutes knows he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Yet, I've heard various accounts of severe bullying."

"He doesn't do that anymore," Lily protested. "The last time I saw Potter tease or bully someone was in-in," she thought for a moment, "Fifth year. Sixth year he still pulled multiple pranks against the school and even against some students but all of them meant no harm and didn't cause harm, just a good laugh, besides if you can call a prank bullying well then I'm a dementor."

Pierce looked intently at Lily before saying, "I see. As a muggle-born, how has Mr Potter acted around you?"

Lily snorted. "Look, if James Potter is attacking muggle-borns, he must not know I am a muggle-born because we have been alone together during prefect duties and patrols several times and he has neither said a bad word to me or pulled his wand on me nor has he ever, ever expressed the slightest implication of agreeing with the muggle-born and pure-blood nonsense. In fact, not two or three days ago he told me that he didn't believe in that pure-blood/muggle-born nonsense! And his mother co-runs Magic Against Evil, not sure if you've heard of it but the organisation fights for muggle-born rights."

"I've heard of it," she replied.

"Right," Lily said, "Now, if you assume that James Potter is attacking muggle-borns, why hasn't he attacked me? He's had multiple opportunities. Unless you're suggesting that James Potter is stupid and doesn't know I'm muggle-born which I assure you he's not, just look at his O.W.L.S! Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding in all his subjects! He bragged the whole train ride in sixth year. It's infuriating! So, are you saying that James Potter is stupid, Miss Pierce? Are you saying a stupid man attempted to kill a student?"

Pierce was left speechless for a few moments before she found herself. "Are you sure you are not friends with Mr Potter? You certainly defended him better than his supposed best friends and definitely better than that boring Brown kid from their dormitory."

"Potter and I are not friends," Lily said coolly, "I just know fact from fairytale. It's the difference between naive and intelligent. Also, this is a waste of my time."

"Well, what are the facts telling you, Miss Evans?"

"The facts are telling me, that it's too easy. Your victim stays quiet for a few days and then announces that Potter was her attacker when he asked her."

"She might've been scared."

"Then why admit to your attacker that you know it was them? Now, you are suggesting that Mia Scott is stupid."

"Well what do you suppose happened?" Pierce snapped.

"A good old fashioned confundment or memory charm."

"Madam Pomfrey said she hadn't! Don't make me out to be the stupid one here. You're the one ignoring the evidence, Miss Evans," she said coolly.

Lily was stumped. They'd already tested her and she wasn't confunded. That confused matters. A lot. Why _would_ Mia Scott accuse James for attacking her, if he hadn't? Unless he had but that didn't make sense. James didn't believe in that muggle-blood / pure-blood nonsense. He wsan't capable of murder. Lily was sure. But why would Scott lie?

Pierce took Lily's silence as an opportunity to ask more questions. "Have you noticed anything odd about the castle lately?"

"Yeah, the fact that students are being pulled out of class to talk to you. May I leave now?" Lily asked seeing that she was now missing the start of Potions.

Pierce nodded stiffly and Lily got up to leave.

"Miss Evans," she said and Lily turned to face the woman, "I urge you to report anything unusual. Dark times are coming."

"All due respect, Miss Pierce, but the dark times arrived when Angela Branson was murdered."

"Who was Angela Branson? I'm sure I would've heard about a witch being killed!"

"Angela Branson died in September of 1972. She was the first muggle that died at the hands of Voldemort, Miss Pierce. It's odd, don't you think? Everyone will remember the name of the first pureblood who'll die at the hands of Voldemort but not the people we are actually fighting for."

With that Lily left Miss Pierce's office and made a bee line for Potions. If she got there quick enough she may still be able to catch the beginning stages of the Draught of Living Death potion Professor Slughorn said they'd be perfecting today.

"Lily?" a voice asked when she passed a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw on the first floor. Lily whirled around, her school robe flouncing with her sharp movement.

James Potter stepped out from behind a tapestry that Lily knew hid a secret stairwell to the fifth floor. He looked tired with bags under his red eyes. Lily thought his robes looked creased and crumpled and was certain that he should not have a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand.

"Potter, have you been drinking?" Lily said knowing the answer.

"No," he denied but the smell coming from his breath told her otherwise, not to mention the bottle of firewhiskey in his hand.

"Wh- why aren't you in Potions?" she asked and she cursed herself for stuttering. She was being ridiculous. James wouldn't hurt her. Pierce was wrong. Lily didn't know why Scott lied, but Lily knew that. Pierce was wrong. James didn't hurt anyone.

"I'm being accused of attempted murder. Potions is a little low on my to-do list at the moment. And anyways, everyone just stares at me. The Slytherins congratulate me, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws think I'm a murderer and the Gryffindors tip-toe around me like they aren't sure what to think of me. Sorry, if I don't feel like going to Potions."

"And getting piss drunk is high on your to-do list?"

James considered for a second, "Yes."

Lily sighed. She wouldn't be getting to Potions after all. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. McGonagall will have a fit if she finds out you've been skipping classes to get sloshed," she told him and he followed her down the corridor all the way to the Gryffindor Tower where she sat him on the couch and handed him a cup of water.

"I think I have a sobering potion in my room, I'll be back in a second," she said and she turned to leave but James said, "Don't. Just go. You're missing class. Besides, either way I'm doomed for Azkaban. Didn't you hear? Scott hadn't been confunded."

Lily stayed quiet and James nodded slowly. "Ah, you did hear … you don't know what to make of it. So much for everything will be okay."

"James," Lily said reproachfully, "Just let me help-"

"I don't want your help," he snapped and Lily annoyed at his insistence snapped back, "Fine! Wallow in your own self-pity then! See if I bloody care!" James watched her storm out of the portrait hole and then laid down on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

James didn't know how his life had gotten here. One minute everything was normal. He was laughing because Fortescue was warning him to stay away from Lily as though James would listen and the next Madam Pomfrey was shrieking 'I've found the murderer!' down the corridor and Professor McGonagall wouldn't look him in the eye. People who he had thought would be on his side were slowly turning against him.

And Lily had looked beautiful today. Her dark, red hair was in a neat high ponytail and her green eyes stood out like flashlights in the night. Her bag slung over her shoulder so casually and looking as though something was ready to burst out. James should've told her that an undetectable extension charm would solve all her problems. She probably already knew that though. And he'd pushed her away because she was his ticket out of this whole mess and that annoyed James to no end and it did not help that she was so damn willing to help him.

—

Sirius rushed up to the common room after Potions in the hopes of finding James and find James he did. He was passed out on the floor in front of the fireplace, an empty bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. Sirius kicked James' leg and James groaned.

"What?"

"Get up."

James winced, "Quieter."

"Well, I wouldn't have to be quiet if you didn't get drunk before lunch," Sirius said annoyed. "Go have a shower, sober up. You're not missing anymore classes."

"Leave me alone," James insisted.

"James, so help me. You are going to get up in ten seconds and in fifteen you are going to be in the shower because you missing classes isn't helping you right now."

"I'm going to end up in Azkaban anyways."

Pissed off at his attitude, Sirius grabbed his wand and used levicorpus to hoist James into the air by his ankle and then levitated him towards the dormitory.

"Oi! Put me down."

"No!"

"Black!"

"Potter!" Sirius pulled his wand back and James fell in a heap onto the stairs. He scrampled up, ready to punch Sirius. "Going to punch me now, James? Just stop! You are innocent! We will prove it and you will be fine! But you have to stop this! You can't skip class and you can't get plastered before noon! You haven't been charged and you won't be! We will figure it out and you will be fine! So get your damn arse in the shower and come down for lunch."

James and Sirius stared at each other, in a stalemate. James' jaw relaxed and Sirius knew he'd won. He smirked. "Shut it, Black."

"Just go take a shower, you smell worse than the Hog's Head."

Sirius watched James go into their dormitory and waited until he heard the sound of the shower turning on before heading back down to the common room. Lily was coming in through the portrait hole and she halted when she saw Sirius.

"How is he?"

"He's having a shower," Sirius sighed, running a hand over his face. "Thanks for telling me, Evans."

"Felt wrong not to," she shrugged. "But you're welcome. If you ever need anything, or if James decides he wants my help … I'm here."

Sirius nodded. "Thanks, Evans."

"See you around, Black." With that she exited the common room leaving Sirius alone to wait for James.


	9. Chapter 8: The Student In A Mask

Lily left the library late that night. She had been finishing the Arithmacy problems Professor Wright set for homework and it was tedious work. She was thinking about the essay she had to do tomorrow for Herbology and wondered if Alice would help her a bit, Alice had a knack for Herbology. The plants liked her as stupid as it sounded. Lily could recall a lesson in second year when they were re-potting baby mandrakes and Alice had been able to soothe her mandrake so quickly that Professor Postumus gave Gryffindor fifteen points. The essay in question was about a famous herbologist by the name of Artemis Germain who had discovered the effects of the Fire Seeds produced from the Fire Seed Bush.

"Andrew!" she said breathlessly. "What're you doing out here? It's just passed curfew!"

"I know, I'm patrolling tonight. What're you doing out here?"

"I was headed back to the common room. Arithmacy homework."

"Why're you in such a rush for?"

"I've just realised something and I've got to apologise to Potter."

"Potter? Lily, you have to stay away from him! He's attacking muggle-borns! You're a muggle-born."

Lily thought about what James had said. "No," she said standing a little straighter. "I'm a witch and so was Scott. Potter didn't attack her, I know it now but I doubted him after I said I'd help him so now I really need to apologise. I mean how daft was I to believe anything that Pierce woman said? She obviously just wants the case shut even if that means putting an innocent person in Azkaban."

"Lily," Andrew said alarmed. "You can't talk to Potter! He'll attack you."

Lily rolled her eyes but she was smiling, "No, he won't! Don't you see? He's being framed. I don't know why, but I'll find out. Night, love." She pecked his lips before running off and barely heard Andrew when he yelled, "You're not to see Potter or we're over!"

Lily skidded to a stop, her black shoes slipping on the stone floors. An icy chill went through her. She turned around slowly to face Andrew.

"Then I guess we're over." With that she turned and continued running to the Gryffindor common room except now she was fighting tears.

How could Andrew make her choose? That wasn't what a relationship was supposed to be about. You were supposed to have the other person's back no matter what. She never did do well with ultimatums but she was still shocked at how easily her decision had come to her. Just like that, she didn't have a boyfriend anymore. She'd chosen Potter, she suddenly realised and then she shook her head, telling herself not to be absurd. She ended it because he gave her an ultimatum and that had been the one thing her mother had always told her about relationships: "If a boy threatens to break up with you because of a decision you make, you dump him faster than you can blink." So Lily had.

Lily bursted into the bustling common room and headed straight for her dormitory. Marlene and Ella saw her immediately and noticed her distraught face and followed her up the stairs.

"What happened?" Ella asked as Lily burst into tears completely. Now that she was crying she didn't know how she had held it in so long. "Did Potter kiss you?"

"Ella!" Marlene scolded.

"What? It's a valid question."

"I'm pretty sure that if Potter kissed Lily, she wouldn't be crying. Half the girls in Gryffindor can testify that he is an excellent kisser. Just ask Allison Hopkins, she only bragged about it everyday of that miserable month when they were dating in the dreadful year of '75."

"Guys!" Lily whined and the girls snapped their attention back to Lily. "Potter didn't kiss me."

"He tried to kill you?" Ella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ella!" Lily and Marlene chorused.

"No, he didn't. This has nothing to do with Potter except that it does. Oh God, Andrew and I broke up and I don't know why I did it I was just so angry. Who was he to give me an ultimatum!?"  
"An ultimatum," Marlene said cringing, "You never do well with those."

"Right," Lily said and she continued to ramble on about how she had told Andrew that she needed to apologise to Potter and that he said if she spoke to Potter the relationship was over.

"Please don't say you picked Potter!" Ella exclaimed and Marlene nudged her.

"Lily's bad with ultimatums," Marlene reminded her before turning to Lily, "Look you don't have to talk to Potter tonight. Tomorrow, you're going to find Andrew and talk to him. You'll explain that you're really bad with ultimatums. You're short term needs outweigh the long term needs in that moment and you make stupid, rash decisions. He'll understand."

"Right."

"But do you really want to be with someone who expects that they can tell you what to do and who to see?" Ella asked.

"You don't like Andrew?" Lily asked. "But you two always get along fine."

Ella snorted. "When we're in the library doing homework and not talking, you mean?"

"Right," Lily said again. "But then why'd you care if I picked Potter?"

Ella rolled her eyes, "Just because I don't like him doesn't mean you don't! You really are quite oblivious sometimes. You really like Andrew, Lily. I've never seen you this torn up over a relationship."

"Right." But Lily didn't think that was quite the case. She did really like Andrew but she felt as though she were more upset by the whole Potter-is-an-accused-attempted-murderer thing.

"I – I need to go for a walk."

"Lily, it's past curfew."

"A great time for me to practice my disillusion charm."

Lily smiled as she walked out of the dorm and down the stairs. When she was just behind the portrait hole she cast the charm on herself and felt like water was being poured down the back of her shirt. She left the common room and the Fat Lady asked who was there but Lily didn't respond — it sort of would have defeated the purpose of being invisible.

Lily didn't know where exactly she was going, all she knew was that she needed air. She needed to think. She wanted to do something she hadn't done before. She wanted to fly, to soar, to forget everything. She wanted to run and run and run until her cheeks were so red that they clashed with her hair and then lie down on the grass and point out the different constellations that she'd spent her years in Astronomy learning. She wanted to be free but she didn't know how to get it. Life was so complicated. So hard. She liked Andrew. She liked him enough to know that if she gave them a chance she could love him one day but something was holding her back, tying her wings down and not letting her soar.

Marlene said he'd understand but what if he didn't? And that was all right and good but, what if she didn't want him to understand? Did that make her an awful person? Doubt fogged her mind so much that she couldn't even see the headlights through it. There was no shining thought, no momentary clarity. Lily didn't know what to do and she wanted to kick and punch and scream because Lily always knew what to do. She always did the right thing but not because she had to but because she knew that was what she had to do. But she didn't know anymore.

A part of her was screaming at her to help Potter and another part of her was screaming to fix her relationship with Andrew. Lily was faced with a difficult decision. What do you do when both decisions are the right decisions but you can only pick one? Lily knew deep down what she had to do. Perhaps she had known since the situation had presented itself like an ugly beast sniffing the air for prey.

In muggle school, Lily had a test and their teacher told them a secret about the questions of the test. They were multiple choice and whilst Lily was only in third grade her teacher took examinations very seriously. She had told the class the secret to answering multiple choice questions:

"If you are unsure which one is the right one if they both sound correct, choose the most correct one."

So what do you do when both decisions are the right decisions but you can only pick one? You pick the most right one.

—

Marlene sat angrily in bed, staring determinedly at Ella who was determinedly avoiding Marlene, and Adaline and Alice watched with anticipating looks. Ella was laying in bed, her eyes closed but Marlene knew she wasn't really sleeping — she was faking to avoid talking to Marlene.

"You've been avoiding me," Marlene said. She hated being shut out.

"You're being naggy."

Marlene frowned. "Why is everyone calling me a bloody nag?"

"Because you are one," Ella said matter-of-factly.

"Who else is calling you a nag?" Alice frowned.

"Nate and that's not the point! Ella, please stop ignoring me and just talk to me," Marlene pleaded. "You haven't so much as looked at me since the morning!"

"I answered your question just now!" Ella protested. "How am I ignoring you if I'm responding to you?"

"You're still not looking at me." Marlene crossed her arms.

"Because I am trying to sleep."

Marlene scoffed, "Please, we all know you sleep with your curtains closed and even if you didn't I can tell that you're faking."

"Are you a mind reader now?"

"You're avoiding me. And you're avoiding Putley."

"For the billionth time, Adams. I don't want to talk about it." Marlene rolled her eyes. "I don't need to talk everything to death like you do. I declined his date and that's that. Leave. It. Alone."

"No," Marlene insisted. "I won't. Because you only declined his date because you think he'll think your damaged goods or something preposterous like that when really he won't think any differently about you. You're just using your family issues as an excuse because you're scared."

Ella sat up straight, flinging her legs of the side of the bed. "Fine! I'm scared!" she shouted. "I have a dad who doesn't give a damn about me and I don't want to let him come and mess me up more! I've enough issues to be getting on with so just bloody leave it alone, Adams!"

Ella snatched her wand up, the curtains shutting with a flick of her wrist and she buried herself under the covers.

Marlene looked at Adaline who mouthed, "You tried."

—

James Potter woke up sprinting to the bathroom, bile rising up in his throat. James keeled over the toilet bowl and threw up into it as Sirius sat on his bed smirking at the sight of the legendary James Potter throwing up into the toilet.

"You going soft, Prongs?" he asked. "Can't even hold down Firewhiskey now."

"Shut it," James groaned coming out of the bathroom. "Why on earth did you let me drink the whole bloody bottle, you git?"

James flopped onto Sirius's bed and tried to suffocate himself with the pillow. It was appealing for a moment. If he suffocated himself, he wouldn't have to deal with the accusations and the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he was a bad person. No one would accuse a nice person of killing someone.

"What time is it?" James asked.

"It's just past curfew. You slept through the whole afternoon. Missed dinner too. I told you to take a shower, not fall asleep in it."

"I'm starving. Did you save me anything?"

"No, but I'm sure the elves would be happy to give you something."

"Great mate you are. Wanna come?"

"I've got to finish this stupid Defence essay. Scrivens said she would give me a detention if I skipped on homework again. Bloody hate professors like that. Like this essay is going to be any good to me when I'm duelling a bloody Death Eater! Ha!"

"What's it about then?"

"It's bloody maddening! It's something first years are expected to know. The difference between jinxes, hexes and curses and we are meant to go into detail analysing one example for each category of spells. It's going to be a pain. Oh, and we also have to judge the effectiveness of law enforcement in the usage of these dark spells." Sirius rolled his eyes and James just nodded slightly as he pulled his cloak out of his trunk. It was silvery and so thin James sometimes wondered why it had never torn or gotten a hole, but the material remained whole .

"I'm going to the kitchen. Just remember that the Imperius Curse would work well, lots of issues there you know, with not being able to prove if someone was under the curse or not and the victim not being able to report it until after the curse is lifted. You can use Priori Incantatem as a positive and … anyway I'm off to the kitchens. Maybe Hilly and Belfire will give me one of those potions that help get rid of headaches. Mine's churning like an engine."

"Can you bring me back some extra desert? I'm famished."

"Sod off, you couldn't even bring me the bone of a chicken leg and you want me to get you a pastry?"

James left the dormitory and threw the cloak over himself. When he opened the portrait hole the Fat Lady muttered something about "invisible students opening me just to go gallivanting across the school after curfew. Ha! I'll show them. Won't let them back in, will I? Hope Filch catches them." James rolled his eyes before setting off for the basement where the kitchens were.

James loved roaming around the school after hours. It was quiet and the only light that lit the corridors were that of the fiery torches on the walls that flickered and bounced and the moonlight always gave the corridors that extra touch. That feeling like anything could happen. James just didn't realise something bad would ever happen on one of his night-time strolls. He'd done this countless times before and nothing bad had ever happened.

After James ate in the kitchens he headed to one of his favourite destinations to visit in the middle of the night: The Astronomy Tower.

—

Adaline nudged Alice awake because it had been over an hour now and Lily still hadn't returned. Her bed was still perfectly made and the bathroom door was open.

"Psst," she hissed, nudging Alice.

"Hmph, what?"

"Lily's not back yet. Should we be worried?"

Alice rolled over, "She's prob-ly snogging Fort'scue in broom clos…" Alice fell back asleep again and Adaline frowned and moved onto Marlene.

"Psst, Marls," she hissed, shaking her leg. "Lily isn't back yet."

"Go 'way. Sleepin'."

Adaline rolled her eyes and went over to Ella this time. She pinched Ella's nose shut and Ella woke with a start.

"Bloody hell, Della," she grumbled.

"Lily isn't back yet."

"So?"

"Shouldn't we be worried?"

Ella lay back down and pulled the covers up. "She's probably snogging Potter in a broom closet. Go to bed, Del."

Adaline sat on her bed but pulled out a novel and flicked it open, vowing to stay awake until Lily came back.

—

Lily somehow ended up on the seventh floor in the corridor that led to the stairwell that led to the Astronomy Tower. Lily didn't know what possessed her. The Astronomy Tower was out of bounds unless with a teacher or for Astronomy lessons. But Lily was invisible and she hadn't heard footsteps for almost thirty minutes. She ran up the stairwell and when she reached the top the only thing she could see were the thousands of lights in the sky and the brightest and biggest of them all.

The moon, almost full, was shining so bright and though there were no lights lit on the Astronomy Tower, Lily could see perfectly from the silvery glow it let off.

Lily laid down on the hard floor and looked up at the sky. She pointed out several constellations in her mind and wondered if there were more people out in the Universe. Lily had always believed in aliens when she was little but Petunia didn't but Petunia didn't believe in magic either.

When Professor Ollivander, with her warm grey eyes and long brown hair, waltzed into her home on the first of August in 1971, magenta robes and dazzling earrings that seemed to shine like a glowing light. A wooden stick pointing out of one of the pockets on her robes and her shoes were the oddest leather, Lily had never quite seen a pattern like that before (it was moleskin). Lily's life was changed forever. Professor Ollivander was quite nervous at the time. She said to Lily and her parents, "This is my second year at Hogwarts and damn Dumbledore for making me part of the staff who come and tell muggle-borns their witches and wizards and oh dear, I'm awful at this." Lily and her parents had no idea what this strange woman — who seemed to have some sort of creature in her pocket that kept moving around — Professor Ollivander had sighed exasperatedly and pulled out the most bizarre looking creature. A fuzzy, sky blue ball with eyes and the tiniest legs sat in her palm as she scolded at it, "You don't like to sit still, do you?" she questioned the creature. Lily's eyes had lit up, Sev had warned her that a Professor from the school was coming but her parents looked at this woman like she was absolute nutters. They had no idea what she was talking about. But once Professor Ollivander had explained, Lily was delighted. It was all true, she could've wept with joy. She wasn't a freak. There really was a whole group of people out there who were just like Lily and Lily couldn't wait to go join them. At Hogwarts, the magic castle Sev had told her about. It was all Lily talked about until September first.

This is what Lily was thinking about when suddenly she heard a voice whisper, " _Sectumsempra_!" and her neck poured blood onto the floor like a waterfall forming a pretty, red lake on the grey stone, the gaps between the stones turning into rivers and streams. She only had a moment to register what was happening before she lost consciousness. _Oh God, someone find me_.

—

Remus, Sirius and Peter had started a mini chess tournament. Peter had already bombed out and Sirius and Remus were versing each other furiously.

"Prongs is taking a long time," Peter noted.

Sirius shrugged. "He probably went for a stroll. Brood over the fact he's going to Azkaban."

"Stop saying that," Remus said annoyed. "We'll figure something out."

"Relax. I don't say it in front of him. I'm all optimistic and shit like you told me to be."

"Comforting." He moved a pawn.

"You don't think he's doing something stupid, do you?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Define stupid, Wormy. We do a lot of stupid shit — Prongs more so," Remus commented.

Sirius looked offended. "I do stupid shit."

"I'm aware."

"Wolf," Sirius finished with a grin.

"Every time," Remus muttered. He looked around cautiously, hoping that their other — mostly silent — roommate hadn't overheard but when Remus glanced at his bed he found it empty. He frowned. Had they been too loud? Brown always opted to sleep in the common room when they were being noisy and his pillow and blankets were gone.

"Only when I'm drunk."

"You're not."

"I could be. You don't know my life," Sirius shrugged.

Remus looked at him doubtfully. "I know your life. It's quite pathetic actually."

"Not as pathetic as Peter's."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Wormy," Sirius shrugged.

"Brown's sleeping in the common room again."

Sirius shrugged, "We offered to let him play with us, didn't we?"

"We did," Peter agreed.

"Maybe one of us should go get him. Apologise for being noisy."

"Why?"

"Because it's his dormitory too," Remus said annoyed. "And it must suck for him that we're all good mates and he hasn't really got anyone."

"Moony," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Are you drunk? Because you're being rather soppy."

Remus rolled his eyes, moved a chess piece and said, "Check mate."

Sirius stared at the board gobsmacked and then looked up and sighed defeatedly. "I hate you."

"Every time," Remus grinned. "Now give me back my stash of chocolate."

"You know, Moony, sharing is caring," Peter suggested.

"Wormtail's right, Moony. Sharing _is_ caring. You care about us don't you?"

Remus swept up his chocolate off of Peter's bed. "Not enough to give you lot my chocolate that my uncle got me from Sweden."

—

James was at the foot of the Astronomy Tower when someone pushed past him, they paused for a moment for James was under the Invisibility Cloak and couldn't see him. James tried to see who it was but the person wore some sort of mask and their hood was up. James couldn't even tell if it was a girl or a boy.

James bolted up the stairs wondering what they had been running away from and his stomach lurched when he noticed red marks against the pale grey stone of the steps. James threw the cloak off of himself and shoved it into his pocket as he kept running up the stairs, hoping no one had been hurt. He halted in his tracks when he reached the top, too shocked to even process what he was seeing. He vomitted and was unsure if it was because of his hangover or because of the sight in front of him — surely the latter.

All he could see was Red. Blood on the floor. Flaming hair and black robes soaking in blood. A face so pale it disfigured the features to look like death. But the features looked so familiar. The freckles, the straight nose, the shape of the eyes, the point of the chin, the colour of her hair…Lily. It was Lily.

James ran over to her, his heart beating so fast he thought it was trying to swim in the lake on the floor, and whipped his wand out. He held it over her throat where the blood seemed to be coming from and whispered, " _Vulnera sanentur_ " just like Professor Flitwick had taught them and _Merlin, why was this happening!?_ But the blood stopped flowing out of her so James kept repeating the spell like he had been taught and slowly, some of the blood went back into her, the lake on the floor shrinking but not enough that James was hopeful she'd live.

"Come on, Lily," he shouted, "Stay with me. _Vulnera sanentur._ "

The wound healed over but James knew it wouldn't be enough. He had to get her to Madam Pomfrey. She needed a Blood Replenishing Potion and lots of it. He studied Lily's chest and, though slowly, it was rising up and down. She was still breathing. She was alive.

James stowed his wand away and slid his arms under Lily and lifted her up into his arms, bridal style, blood dripping off the ends of her robes. Her head lolled and James didn't like how she felt like dead weight. He hurried down the stairs, not caring that he had blood all over him or that he would be the prime suspect. He just needed Lily to be okay.

When James neared the infirmary he started shouting, "I need help! Lily! Lily needs! She was attacked! I-" he was at a loss as of what to shout, how to get help. He was afraid. He knew Lily was still breathing but…she had lost so much blood.

"Help! Madam Pomfrey! Help!" he shouted again and not five seconds later, Madam Pomfrey came running into the hallway in her bed robes. She saw Lily in James's arms, the blood still trickling off of her robes, the blood red hair, and gasped.

"She needs help!" James shouted. "I used Vulnera sanentur to heal her but she lost so much blood and not all of it went back inside her. She's lost so much," James just kept repeating as he laid Lily on a hospital bed. Madam Pomfrey summoned a bottle of dittany and a Blood Replenishing Potion and from what James could tell it was the stronger version, meant for a huge amounts of blood loss. Madam Pomfrey got to work on saving Lily and it had been ten minutes when Professor McGonagall ran in.  
"Potter!" she yelled, "What are you doing out of bed at this hour?" then she saw Lily on the bed, "My!" she gasped, "Is that a student?"

"It's Evans. Lily," James said weakly. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Potter, an explanation," she demanded, looking at James, her face full of shock.

"There was so much blood," was all James could say. "So, so much blood. It reminded me of the Black Lake. So much blood."

"Madam Pomfrey, something for shock I think. What happened?"

"I don't know, Potter just keeps talking about all the blood. What're you doing here?"

"I was doing a quick patrol and I saw bloody footprints on the seventh floor near the Astronomy Tower. I came here straight away to see if anyone was injured. Professor Flitwick is searching the seventh floor."

"Astronomy Tower," James croaked. "A student with a mask. That's all I saw before I saw Lily. I swear I didn't do it. You can, you can do any tests you want. I didn't do it."

As more time passed, more teachers crowded the Hospital Wing and James sat on a plastic chair in the corner, head in his hands as he tried not to think about how Lily had looked when he found her and how stupid he'd been. He just let the person that did this to her, run away. He should've known that the person had done something wrong, should've stopped them or at least gotten a look of their face. Something. Instead, he'd just let them run away.

"James," Professor McGonagall kneeled in front of him and he looked at her. "Lily was very lucky you were around. She's going to live because of you."

"But I didn't get the person that did this to her. I saw them! And I just let them run away," he said glumly.

"I would like to have a word with you, Mr Potter," said a cold voice and James looked away from Professor McGonagall to see Auror Beth Pierce.

"Pierce, I hardly think now is the time to question, Potter. He's been through a great deal tonight."

"Oh yes, the little sob story of finding the girl in the Astronomy Tower and reports of a student wearing a mask. How convenient," she said flatly. "I would like to speak with Mr Potter, in my office. Now."

"You can speak to him tomorrow, after he's had rest!" Professor McGonagall told her.

"With all due respect, I am the Auror on this case and it is my duty to find out who is responsible for these crimes!"

"And with all due respect, I am a teacher, responsible for my students' health. You can speak to Potter tomorrow. In the meantime, why don't you search the castle for a student in a mask?"

Pierce stormed away and James looked at Professor McGonagall hopefully, "You don't think I did it?"

"I never thought you had," she admitted. "Now, go back up to your dormitory and get some-"

James shook his head, "No, I want to make sure she's okay."

Professor McGonagall looked at James for a moment before nodding. "Very well. You can help yourself to a bed, if you wish."

James nodded but stayed put in his chair looking at the grey curtains around the bed Lily Evans was in. He wanted to sit next to her and hold her hand. She'd felt so cold before, he hoped they gave her plenty of blankets. He wanted to get that vision out of his mind. The vision of beautiful, smart and talented Lily lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, heart beat so weak, face so pale that James had thought she was dead.

The teachers milled around until Madam Pomfrey pushed the curtains open and said, "She's stable but she hasn't woken yet."

The curtain stayed open and before James could think twice about it, he lifted his chair and moved it right next to Lily's bed and sat himself in it. She looked better than an hour ago. Her face seemed less pale, her cheeks were a bit more rosy, James thought, but a mean red scar crossed across her throat about three inches long.

Madam Pomfrey stood next to James and said, "The scar should fade until it's just a thin line."

"But she'll always have it?" James croaked and Madam Pomfrey nodded, "Afraid so. The wound is cursed. The dittany helps but it won't fade completely."

"But she's okay?"

"She should wake up in a few hours," she assured him. "You did well, Potter. A few seconds longer and she may not have made it. You saved her."

James nodded as the words bounced around in his head. _You saved her. A few seconds longer … she may not have made it. You did well, Potter. You saved her._ James pulled his legs up onto the chair and wrapped his arms around them as though he was trying to hold himself together and just looked at her, waiting for her to wake up because he didn't feel like he'd saved her. He felt like he failed her.

"You can help yourself to a bed, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said before leaving James on his own with Lily.

James didn't know how long he sat like that for, he nodded off a few times and Madam Pomfrey brought him a glass of water along with a goblet of potion. He looked at her questioningly.

"For that hangover," she said knowingly and James smiled sheepishly and drank up.

It had been hours and Lily hadn't moved a muscle. _What if she never woke up?_ The thought whispered at the back of his mind like a child scared. But it was a stupid thought, James told himself, Madam Pomfrey had said that it takes patients with severe injuries a while to come to. He just needed to give her time to heal. _Please wake up_. _Wake up. Wake up. Wake up._ James nodded off again.

—

Adaline woke with a start and the first thing she noticed was that she'd fallen asleep upright. Her book lay closed on her lap and her neck cracked as she stretched her neck out. The second thing she noticed was that everyone else was still sleeping except for Lily whose bed was made up. Adaline frowned. The bed looked exactly the same as the previous night.

She clapped her hands loudly and Ella swore, "Bloody hell!"

"Lily hasn't been back all night, her bed hasn't been slept in!" Adaline threw her covers off. "I'm going to go check the common room."

She shrugged on a night robe and as she tied it she exited the dorm, trotting down the stairs quickly and scanning the common room for red hair. It was nowhere to be found. Instead she found a mop of black hair.

"Oi, Black!" Adaline shouted, "You seen Lily around?"

"Nah, you seen James?"

"No, I haven't — wait, you're looking for James?"

"Yeah, he left last night to go get food after curfew. Never came back."

"Lily left last night after curfew too," Adaline frowned. Her eyes rested on a bundle of red blankets with dark brown hair resting on a pillow. "Did you lot make Brown sleep in the common room again?"

Sirius glanced at Brown distractedly. "We didn't make him do anything. He left on his own free will. Let me know if you see James, will you?"

Adaline agreed though she doubted she'd find him in the girls dormitory. Black headed out of the portrait hole and she headed back up the stairs and rolled her eyes. No one had gotten up.

"Will you people get up?" she snapped, "Our friend is missing."

"If Lily wants to snog Fortescue-" "Or Potter" Ella chimed. "She can," Alice continued, "Just don't expect me to lose sleep over it."

"This is Lily we are talking about," Adaline reminded everyone. "Lily doesn't stay out all night like some." She looked at Alice pointedly.

"Oh hush, I was only ever in the boys dormitory, I wasn't slutty enough to stay in a broom closet all night."

"Lily isn't slutty enough to do that either," Adaline stressed.

Marlene pushed her curtains open, a frown on her face. "She's really been gone all night?"

"Yes!"

"That is odd."

"Something's wrong," Adaline insisted.

"Maybe not that odd," Alice chimed. "Maybe she was feeling rebellious. Maybe her and Fortescue sealed the deal if you know what I mean," she wagged her eyebrows quite unnecessarily because everyone knew what she was talking about.

"I don't know," Marlene frowned. "Doesn't sound like Lily."

"Let's give her until the end of breakfast to show up," Ella suggested, "If we still haven't seen her then we'll go alert a teacher."

Adaline pursed her lips but nodded.

—

He woke again when the door to the Hospital Wing banged open, slamming against the wall.

"Mr Black!" Madam Pomfrey shouted crossly, "What do you think you are doing? This is a Hospital Wing!"

"James?" he called. "Where's James?" and then the curtain was pulled back. "Prongs?"

"Mr Black! This is a Hospital Wing and visiting hours has not started! Patients are trying to sleep!"

Sirius frowned as he saw Lily with the red scar across her throat. "She was attacked?" he asked James.

"I found her."

"You saved her?"

James shrugged.

"Mr Black, leave this instant!" Madam Pomfrey demanded, her hands on her hips.

"You okay?" Sirius asked James.

James shrugged. Lily looked the same as she did a few hours ago.

"Mr Black!"

"You going to stay here?"

James nodded. Shouldn't something be different? Shouldn't she be awake by now? It's been hours. What if he didn't get there in time? What if she never woke up?

"Mr-"

"All right, all right, I'm going!" he cried before clapping James on the shoulder and leaving James alone with Lily.


	10. Chapter 9: Unexpected Friends

Lily was the most oddly dressed patient Madam Pomfrey had ever encountered at Hogwarts. She wore the Infirmary clothes – a thin stripped gown – with skivvies underneath or scarves wrapped thickly around her throat. It had been a week since Lily was attacked and a mean pink line ran across her throat, where the waterfall had started. Madam Pomfrey told Lily that the scar would fade more with the use of Dittany but that it would never completely fade. Tears pricked at Lily whenever she remembered that the thin line would always be there no matter what. She hated the stupid scar.

She'd had many visitors over the week. The first where her four friends: Ella, Marlene, Alice and Adaline. They were besides themselves with worry and outrage and they showered Lily in lollies and sweets. Adaline gave Lily a small rucksack filled with Honeydukes chocolates (Lily's favourite). Andrew was next. He was really sweet and had a bouquet of sunflowers, which Lily had in a vase next to her bed. Then Potter came again with his mates: Sirius, Peter and Remus. Lily found it nice that they came. She only really talked to Remus and James and that was mainly because of prefect duties. They had brought her a whole heap of stuff including a disguised bottle of Firewhiskey. Sirius had winked and said, "For when you get better." None of the visitors stayed for long. Lily couldn't talk and she was always falling asleep. But perhaps the most surprising visitor had been when she'd first woken up. James was sitting on a chair next to her bed, hugging his knees, his head bowed down.

"J-James?" she had asked but, it had come out croaky and low and her throat roared at her in pain. But he'd looked up, glasses askew, alert eyes.

"Lily?" he said as he got up and when Lily tried to speak again he told her not to. "You've been hurt, Madam Pomfrey said you shouldn't try to talk. I'll go get her," he'd turned to leave but she grabbed his arm and looked at him. Her eyes wide and scared. He bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "You'll be okay," he assured her, squeezing her hand.

—

On the second day the others started trickling through. Nate McKinnon visited with Mia Scott and it was nice having someone who understood what it was like to be in her situation. Later on that day, most of the prefects — except the Slytherins — had come to visit, James and Remus handing her a giant card that was charmed to sprout lilies when she opened it. All the prefects, even the Slytherins', had signed it. Lily was touched even though the other prefects had written a personal message and the Slytherins' only signed their names. She saw Severus's name scrawled in tiny hand-writing in the bottom corner. Then Daisy Ellery and Allison Hopkins visited. Then a small group from Hufflepuff and then at last her friends kicked everyone out and they feasted on all the lollies they had brought the day before and told Lily everything that had been happening in the school until eight p.m. when Madam Pomfrey kicked them out.

On the third day, James came again and this time, Lily was allowed to talk though not much. She didn't really know what had happened that night — she didn't even know why Potter had been there when she woke and she couldn't ask anyone questions.

"Hi," Lily whispered.

James smiled but looked as though he was scared to come up to her. "Hey," he said back. "How you feeling?"

Lily gave him a thumbs up. It was easier than talking. "What happened?" she whispered and he looked down.

"You were attacked, I didn't see the person's face — they were wearing a mask — and I found you and brought you here. I guess the meeting last Tuesday was pretty important after all," he whispered and Lily gestured for him to sit next to her and for the next hour they just sat in silence.

"Professor Dumbledore has given permission for you to attend classes tomorrow," Madam Pomfrey informed Lily and Lily perked up a little as Madam Pomfrey applied dittany to Lily's neck.

"I'll have Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms and Potions tomorrow…do you think they'll all stare?" Lily asked worriedly.

"I'm sure your friends will hex them if they did," Madam Pomfrey winked and Lily laughed. It's funny how comfortable you can become with someone after spending a week in close quarters with them.

"Now, I want you to go to bed early. Sleep helps the body heal. Potter did good work on you but you still lost more than half your blood volume and I'm not convinced you're completely back to normal," Madam Pomfrey handed Lily a goblet of potion, "Drink up."

Lily downed the potion in one gulp knowing it was better that way because the stuff tasted like sweat and piss mixed in one.

"And tomorrow, you can sleep in your dorm but after dinner I would like you to come here so I can apply dittany and to give you your potion. Also you mustn't over exhaust yourself. I don't want any running or staying up late. Neither do I want flying or a tremendous amount of walking. If you feel faint, you are to come straight to me, understand?"

Lily nodded. "Alright then. Get to bed."

"But it's only eight fifteen!" Lily protested.

"You can read for a bit, I guess. But lights out at ten!" she said sternly as she walked back to her office. Lily couldn't wait to go back to the dormitory. She'd missed so much schoolwork she was convinced she was going to fail her N.E.W.T exams. Marlene and Ella were bringing her all the homework but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let Lily try magic yet. She said it would drain her energy too much which then turned into a lecture about how Lily had lost a lot of blood, as though it was Lily's fault she was sliced open at the throat.

Lily grabbed a book off the nightstand. She was reading a book by Valentina Fransesca. She was a witch and she died in 1576. Her book was a literary romance text and Lily found the way of life back then interesting. Fransesca made her love interests go though hell and back. Anything bad that could happen, happened. Lady Eleanor Bennett (the female love interest) was almost burned on a pyre by her own family, whom were faithful Catholics. Lord Stefan Peverell (the male love interest) was betrothed since he was a small child to another pure-blood witch who was truly horrible, Emma Gaunt. Lord Stefan and Lady Eleanor ran away in the end. It was quite cliché, Lily thought, but she still enjoyed the read so much that she ended up falling asleep slouched upright with the book in her lap.

—

"Psst," Lily heard faintly but she decided she was dreaming. Weird dream though, she felt very uncomfortable and something was digging into her stomach.

"Psst!" she heard again. "Lily Evans, if I have to say 'psst' one more time to wake you up I'm leaving!" someone whisper shouted.

Lily still thought she was dreaming until she felt cold air being blown into her ear.

"Urgh," she groaned. "Who's there? What bloody time is it?"

She found the source of the pain in her stomach. She had managed to turn into a little ball and the book was wedged between her legs and stomach. She placed the book on the nightstand before looking up to see none other than Sirius Black.

"Black?" Lily said groggily. "What're you doing here?"

"I just missed you so much in classes," he joked and Lily smiled slyly. "How you feeling?"

Lily shrugged, "I'm okay, I guess. Madam Pomfrey said I can attend lessons tomorrow."

"If anyone stares too much, let me know. I'll hex 'em for you."

"No need, Black," Lily said. "What do you want?"

Sirius look offended. "Can't I just drop by to see how you're doing? Is that such a crime?"

"No, except that it's the middle of the bloody night and if any teacher catches you, you will be crucified."

"Am I meant to get that?"

"Crucified?" Lily asked, "You know, Jesus? The guy who died for our sins…son of God? Ringing any bells?"

"Ahh, you muggles are weird…not that you're a muggle. It's just that you were brought up that way, as a muggle that is. Not that there's anything bad with that. I find muggles quite interesting as a matter of fact. Like those weird box things that have talking pictures."

"You mean the television?"

"Is that what they're called?" he asked and Lily nodded.

"Come on, why'd you drag your ass out of bed in the middle of the night for?"

"That transparent?"

"Yep."

"Okay, so here's the deal. James is going to go to Azkaban if the accusations against him aren't dropped."

"How can I help?"

"Well when this all first started, McGonagall mentioned a thing. Memory Surfing."

Memory Surfing was different to Legilimens in that Memory Surfing required the express permission of the party whose mind is involved. Given that, it was much easier to do then Legilimens.

"Really?" Lily asked surprised, "I mean I see how it would work but is Potter really going to let McGonagall sift through his head?"

"No."

"I'm confused."

"We want you to sift through his head. Why're you wearing a scarf by the way? It's quite warm in here."

Lily ignored the last question. "You want me to surf Potter's mind?"

"I wish you'd stop calling us by our last names, Lily. We've known each other for seven years."

"I'll call you what I want, Black. Why should I help him? He hasn't asked me for any help. In fact, I was under the impression that my help was not wanted."

"Well he doesn't want it, to be honest. But we, the smarter part of the Marauders, want your help. Need your help, that is. Besides, you know he did kind of _save your life_. Your turn to save his."

"Do you really think they'll send him to Azkaban?" Lily asked anxiously.

"I don't know, to be honest but they'll kick him out of Hogwarts that's for sure. Then his mother would kill him."

"Dramatic," Lily said doubtful that Potter's mother would actually kill him.

"She'd confiscate his broomstick, at least," Sirius said as if that proved his point and Lily just raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," she said rolling her eyes. "I'll do it. But! Only if Potter asks."

"That's like saying you'll do something only if McGonagall doesn't give homework," Sirius complained.

"You'd be surprised," Lily said thinking of a deal she had made with her friends about Hogsmeade, which she lost. "Now run along, Black. Thanks for the visit. Don't get caught. See you in class tomorrow."

"Getting rid of me so quickly, Evans?"

"Some people actually like to sleep instead of roaming around the castle at night. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. Feel better. I would hug you but you insist we call each other by our last names so I don't think we know each other well enough even though we've known each other for six years."

"What's my mother's name?" Lily asked.

"Mrs Evans."

"Exactly. Goodbye, _Black_."

"Goodnight, _Evans_."

—

For the last week, James Potter was a mess. He kept dreaming of blood. Lily Evan's blood. He would dream that she was in the middle of the Black Lake with the cut in her throat turning the entire lake blood red. He would wake up at night and some nights he wouldn't be able to fall asleep at all. His friends were starting to notice. The bags under his eyes weren't going unnoticed by anyone. Not even Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter," she said, after class. "I'd like to have a word."

James walked over to her and she sat down on the chair behind her desk. James couldn't help but remember his second year when Sirius and him had put a gluing charm on it. Professor McGonagall had not been amused.

"What's the matter, Professor?"

"Are you all right, Potter? You seem…"

"Tired?" James suggested.

"Yes."

"I just can't fall asleep much these days," James shrugged. "Bad dreams, you know."

Professor McGonagall nodded knowingly. "She's quite all right."

"I just, it haunts me, Professor. What if I wasn't passing by the Astronomy Tower? What if I never found her? What if no one found her? What if she had died up there all alone and terribly?"

Professor McGonagall looked at James kindly. For the first time in James's life he was having a meeting with McGonagall when she wasn't screaming or lecturing him about something.

"James, if we all wondered about the what ifs in life I don't think any of us would ever sleep. My advice, is to forget about the what ifs. Miss Evans is all right, thanks to you and that's the only 'what if' you need to think about. The one that happened. Now I'm going to write a note for Madam Pomfrey to give you a small dosage of sleeping potion so you can get some sleep. I think Professor Scrivens will curse my ear off next time you fall asleep in her class."

"Sorry 'bout that," James smiled clumsily as he took a piece of parchment off of Professor McGonagall.

"For the record, Potter, I don't believe you ever laid a wand on Mia Scott."

James smiled a little before walking out of the classroom. Sirius was waiting outside. He was leaning against the wall and his school robe was hanging off of his arm so he was only wearing his school uniform – dark grey pants, with a white shirt, sleeves rolled up and the gold and red Gryffindor tie hanging loosely around his neck. If a teacher saw him they'd probably take points from Gryffindor for bad conduct.

"Fix yourself up, Padfoot."

"Sure thing, _Head Boy_ ," Sirius said with a snort and ignored James' instructions. "So what did she want then?"

"Gave me permission to get a sleeping potion off Madam Pomfrey."

"Are you gonna get it?"  
James shrugged. "Maybe I'll get Moony to pick it up for me. I've a tonne of homework to catch up on."

"Don't want to see Evans?"

James shook his head. "Every time I see her I just, remember. It's bloody pathetic."

"Did you ever think that maybe if you saw how Evans is now, you'd realise she is absolutely fine. I was talking to Adams the other day in Herbology. She said Lily is doing great."

James just shook his head. "I can't."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Wanker," he muttered.

"Shut up you git. You didn't see _it_. All that blood. You don't imagine that a person can have that much. And to actually see what _I_ am being accused of," James shook his head again, "I just can't."

It wasn't that James didn't want to know that Lily was doing okay. He was glad that she was okay now, but he had an irrational fear that if he were to look at her his nightmares would start to happen in the day.

James ended up going to Madam Pomfrey and thankfully the curtain had been pulled around Lily's bed so James didn't have to deal with her. Madam Pomfrey promised that the small dosage of Sleeping Potion would give him a night's worth of dreamless sleep. As soon as James reached his dormitory after dinner he laid down on his bed and took the potion and that's how Sirius managed to steal an invisibility cloak and take the Marauder's Map without any questions being asked except by Lily Evans of course.

—

The next day, James felt refreshed. The bags under his eyes had shrunk considerably and his eyes didn't want to snap shut when he was awake. He got ready for the day, shoving necessary books into bags and pulling on his school uniform and robe.

"Feeling better?" Peter asked.

"You've no idea," James said. "The potion really worked. Didn't dream a single thing. Not even about a piece of dust. Best sleep I've had in nights."

"That's good," Peter agreed. "Tonight do you think you can help me with my Potions essay?"

"Sure, Wormtail. Coming down for breakfast?"

Peter nodded and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. Together they walked down to the Great Hall and James' stomach jolted when he saw her.

Lily Evans looked great. Her hair, no longer stained with blood, was pulled up into a high ponytail and she was wearing her uniform as she usually did, with the exception of a purple scarf, and nothing was dripping blood. Her face was pink and bright and didn't look even close to death. She was laughing with her friends and eating food. She was normal.

"Prongs," Peter nudged him and James stopped staring and walked to sit down on the table. Peter immediately started eating everything he could reach but James didn't touch a single piece of bread. He'd lost his appetite. All he could think about was Lily. She'd only been in hospital for a week, were they sure she was okay? What if that person tries to hurt her again?

Sirius and Remus came and sat down with Peter and James.

"Where've you been?"

"Nowhere in particular," Sirius said. "It's just such a lovely day to not be accused of attempted murder."

James snapped his full attention to Sirius. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Sirius said sourly. "But I think you should talk to Evans about Memory Surfing."

"We've already been over this," James said.

"I don't think we have," Sirius said strongly.

"It is a bit ridiculous, Prongs," Peter said. "Evans can prove that you weren't the one who attacked Scott. I think you should do it."  
"But she'll find out about Moony."

Remus laughed humourlessly, "Do you really think that one of the smartest witches in our year doesn't know what I am?"

James didn't answer because personally, he did think Lily figured it out and if she hadn't, Snape had definitely told her after that stupid prank Sirius pulled in sixth year.

"She knows and she hasn't told. She won't tell about you guys being animagus' either. I'm not saying she'll approve exactly but she's not a snitch either."

"Besides," Peter said, "You saved her life. She owes you."

"She doesn't," James said automatically. "Yes, I saved her life but I would've done it for anyone. She doesn't owe me anything except to not get hurt again."

James looked around the Great Hall out of habit and noticed the Aitken twins, Avery and Malfoy laughing and staring at Lily. James watched for a moment with complete loathing. James turned to Lily and noticed she was red in the face and slinking in her seat with embarrassment like she wished the world would just swallow her up, her hands shook as they adjusted the scarf. Without even thinking he aimed his wand at Octavia Malfoy and murmured, " _Furnunculous_!"

Immediately, boils and pimples erupted on Octavia Malfoy's face and soon enough the entire hall was erupting with laughter as she ran out of the Great Hall screaming in shame. James glanced back at Lily, a small smile on her face.

"I'd like to thank whoever did that," Sirius chortled and James just smiled to himself satisfactorily.

—

James had been keeping his distance from Lily all day, but anyone who so much as stared at Lily found themselves in the need of a visit to the hospital wing and Lily figured it out by lunch.

James found it odd when Lily sat by James at lunch. James was sitting alone and Lily had just plunked herself down into the seat next to him. James looked over and saw that she was trying to avoid looking at him.

"You've got to stop hexing and jinxing everyone who looks at me," she said, though James saw a sly smile on her lips, the same sly smile she had in the morning when he'd hexed Malfoy.

"You love it."

"I don't. You've been keeping your distance."

James shrugged. "Have I?"

"Don't play dumb, Potter."

"I'm not. Why are you here then?"

"I just, I know I've already said thank you but I just want to say it again… And if there is anything, anything at all, that I can ever do for you. Just say the word because I have a debt to you that I don't think I can ever repay. Without you I'd be dead." James flinched at her blunt statement.

"You don't have a debt to pay me. Saving your life wasn't a loan or an act of insurance. I did it because it's what you do. I can't imagine anyone not helping someone who was in the state you were in. So you don't owe me. You don't have a debt to pay. God, Lily. I just need you to promise me that you won't get hurt again."

"Black told me," Lily blurted out and then she flushed. "About, about the Memory Surfing."

"I never asked you to do that."

"I know, that's why I'm offering," Lily said. "You don't deserve any of this crap that's happening to you."

"But there are things…" James trailed off, "Things that I've done that you can't tell anyone about." James looked at Lily to see that she was already looking at him.

"You haven't hurt anyone?"

"No."

"Killed anyone?"

"No."

"Then I don't care and I'll carry your secret to the grave."

Lily said it with such sincerity that James had to blink to snap out of the gaze she had him locked in. He could feel her eyes burning him.

"You really mean that don't you?"

"Of course I do and if Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore will allow me to do it, I'll do it. I'll learn the spell and we'll do it."

James didn't know what he was saying until after he said it. "Okay."

"Really? You'll let me help?"

"I-yes. Okay. But I swear Evans. If you tell I will hex you."

"I think you're forgetting that I can beat you in a duel," Lily said cheekily and for the first time in a week James laughed.

"Yeah but this time I'll have Padfoot on my side."

"Padfoot?"

James sighed, "You'll know soon enough I guess."

—

Lily had been practicing the spell non-stop for three days. Professor Dumbledore set the day for October twenty-ninth and Lily had twelve more days to practice with the cat (Dibbles) that Professor McGonagall had conjured up for Lily to practice on and considering Dibbles didn't have too many memories, Lily was doing an all right job of it. Though she did find out truly disgusting things about cats though, like a first hand look of it killing Marlene's mouse, Milly.

Lily lay in Andrew's arms in their usual spot in the Green Houses behind the castle. After Lily had been attacked, both of them seemed to have forgotten their last fight and they had slipped straight back into how it use to be. He played with Lily's hair, pulling at her knots until Lily told him to stop.

"I hate that Potter just gets away with everything," Andrew murmured.

Lily's forehead creased. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? Potter attacked you and then chickened out and pretended like he was the one to save you!"

"It wasn't James!" Lily argued. "I would've recognised his voice."

"He could've confunded you!"

"You need to be conscious for that, I would've heard it before I blacked out. Look you'll see soon enough that Potter wasn't the one behind the attacks."

"What do you mean 'I'll see'?" he asked and Lily cringed. "You aren't talking to Potter, are you?"

Andrew's deep blue eyes looked into Lily angrily.

"I don't know if I like the vibe your eyes are giving off," she said airily. "I'm not exactly talking to Potter."

It was true, sort of. Lily hadn't spoken to James since the date was set in Professor McGonagall's office but Lily couldn't help but notice that James didn't look so good. He usually had bags that would miraculously disappear for one day and then slowly return before disappearing again. His hair was even messier than usual and his uniform was starting to look like Remus's – shabby and crumpled.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?"

"Well, I haven't talked to Potter in a few days."

"Lily! He attacked you!"

"No, he didn't," Lily brushed him off. "He _saved_ me."

"Lily," he scolded.

"Andrew," Lily said normally and he groaned in frustration.

"Why do you have to be so bloody stubborn? The man attacked you."

"Replace 'attacked' with 'saved'. Remember how you were going on about how you were glad I was okay. Well, thank Potter for it. I surely am."

"'Am? As in you are thanking him?"

"Oh relax, Andrew! I'm just helping him get the ridiculous accusations dropped. It's the least I could do. If it wasn't for him the Astronomy Tower would've become the Red Lake."

"Don't joke about it."

"Who's joking?" Lily said coolly. "I've no idea who attacked me and blaming Potter, the person who saved my life, is not helping! You know what is helping? Keeping my mind busy by helping Potter. So you can shut up about it already. Potter didn't hurt me. Potter would never hurt me."

"Why? Because you think he still fancies you?"

"Oh for the love of Merlin! Potter would never hurt me because he's a good person."

"Is he making you help him? Using the fact that he 'saved you' as some sort of blackmail."

Lily snorted. "Potter didn't ask for my help, you git! I offered!"

"I just don't see why you would help him! Why, Lily, why?"

"Come Halloween and you'll be eating your own bloody words!" Lily accused. "I'm helping Potter and that's it! I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do and that's it!"

"Then we are over and that's it!"

Lily was shocked for a moment and had to force herself not to cry.

"So you don't trust my judgement? Not even a little?"

"To be quiet frank Lily, I used to think you had great judgement. I'd trust you with my life. But now, I think you're bat shit crazy."

Anger boiled up in Lily as though it had been conjured. "Bat shit crazy? _Bat shit crazy!_ I'll show you bloody bat shit crazy, you two faced, egotistical moron! _Densaugeo!_ Now you look as ridiculous as you bloody sound! Stupid, close-minded moron!"

With that, Lily stormed out of the greenhouses as Andrew's teeth grew like beaver's teeth. Lily rounded multiple corners before she slumped down on a step in a secret stairwell and started crying. She knew she shouldn't have hexed him but he deserved it and it made Lily feel just that tiniest bit better.

She had trusted him and all along he just thought she was crazy. Probably using her for her status and good looks. Ugh, she hated him because she liked him and he was an absolute git. He thought she was 'bat shit crazy'. Lily didn't think she was but what if that's what a lot of people thought. Her own boyfriend had thought she was so why shouldn't strangers who don't know an honest thing about Lily?

Lily felt so helpless and embarrassed of herself. What if other people did think she was bat shit crazy? She didn't want to have that impression on people because she wasn't crazy. Maybe she wasn't normal but who was? Everyone was something. Marlene squeezed her toothpaste into a tub instead of using it out of the tube. Petunia's room looked as sterile as an operating room. Alice cut her hair really short and kept it like that for a few days before magically regrowing it. Lily's mother organised their wardrobes by colour. Lily's grand-dad locked up toys he thought of as dangerous – he confiscated Lily's wand one summer when he came to visit. If people were normal there'd be no stories to tell.

"Evans?" someone asked and Lily looked around but no one was there. She could've sworn the voice was familiar. Lily shook her head.

"Great," she muttered bitterly as she wiped her face with the back of her hand, "I'm freaking hallucinating now. Maybe I am bat shit crazy."

"Who said that?" the voice asked again and Lily flinched slightly before deciding to go with it.

"My boy – ex-boyfriend."

"He must be stupid then, to let a girl like you go. You're beautiful."

"I'm not beautiful. I've tears running down my face and my eyes are all puffy. Who're you?"

"If he doesn't love you at your worse he sure as hell doesn't love you at your best. And come on, take a guess Evans?"

"Say something again."

"Will you go out with me, Evans?"

Lily smiled at a sudden realisation. "Not even if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid. Hi, Potter. Where are you hiding?"

James suddenly appeared and Lily saw him holding a cloak.

"What's that?"

"Just an old family heirloom. Why're you crying then?" James sat down next to Lily and because the stairwell was so narrow their shoulders and knees brushed against each other.

"Andrew, he called me 'bat shit crazy' so we broke up."

"I'll hex him tomorrow for you."

Lily laughed despite the tears flowing down her face.

"You don't have to do that."

"Of course I do, he made you break your promise to me." Lily looked at him questioningly so James elaborated. "You promised me you wouldn't get hurt again. He hurt you."

"He didn't hurt me in that way," Lily defended as she pulled out a bag of Honeyduke's sweets she won from Professor Scrivens. She offered one to James and he took it gratefully.

"I don't care if he gave you a paper cut. I'm hexing him anyways. Besides, I find mental pain is worse than physical pain. Not that you should feel any pain at losing that twit as a boyfriend. He's a bit of a prat. Shit Quidditch player too. I can get the quaffle off of him nine out of ten times."

"He is a prat isn't he?" Lily said. "You know, he can't even run a hand through my hair without pulling a thousand knots? And he didn't like Lord Of The Rings!"

James gasped dramatically. "And you still dated him!?

"I know," Lily sighed, "It should've been the first sign."

"He's such a prat that no girl wants to date him."

Lily smiled and then frowned. "But I dated him." She ate a sweet to make herself feel better, it didn't. It just made her feel fat.

"That's because you've such a kind soul that you decided to overlook his prat-i-ness."

"Is that so?" Lily asked.

"Yep and just for the record, I don't think you're bat shit crazy."

Lily smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Potter."

"Anytime, Evans."

"If you tell anyone about this, I'll hex you."

"And we have the proof that you can beat me in a duel."

"Literally," Lily said gesturing to the bag in her hand and James laughed and popped another sweet into his mouth. "I'm getting the hang of the spell."

The mood changed drastically. "You've been practicing then?"

"Yeah every spare moment. I've gone ten minutes without breaking the connection to the cat. McGonagall recommended to go a half hour without breaking the connection, you know, in case I have to sift through a lot. Are, are you okay?"

James nodded. "Never been better. Shall we head to the common room?" he asked checking his watch, "It's midnight."

Lily nodded. James started pulling out the old family heirloom he had put into his pocket and Lily realised that it was a cloak.

"You coming?" James asked holding it up and Lily looked at him confused.

"It's not that cold. I think I'm okay."

James chuckled, "Just trust me."

Lily stood up wearily and went to stand next to James. He threw the coat around them and he felt his heart beat faster as their arms brushed together. Lily felt like she was playing dress ups under the cloak, like children acting like ghosts.

They left the stairwell and walked through the moonlit corridors, towards the Gryffindor common room in near silence. Lily glanced up at James and noticed how his eyes seemed to gleam a soft golden colour. She didn't know why she noticed. Lily could hear her breaths and James's breath and their footsteps against the stone. Then Lily heard another set of footsteps. Filch.

"We've got to go and hide!" Lily whispered. "He's heading towards this corridor!" she whispered urgently but James managed to get a grip on her arm and kept her in place.

"No we don't, just stand quiet and still."

"But-"

"Shh!"

Lily bit her lip, she didn't know what James was playing at but she stood still. James was still holding her arm and Lily didn't mind because once Filch caught them she was going to _kill_ him. If someone had asked Lily why she stayed, standing exposed in a corridor, Lily wouldn't know the answer. Lily just had a natural instinct to trust James. Maybe that's what happened when you knew someone for a little over six years.

The footsteps rounded the corner and Lily held her breath but it wasn't Filch. It was that wizard, the one with the purple robes. He was looking around frantically. Lily looked up at James and he looked puzzled, his eyebrows drawn in together his mouth slightly opened. The purple robed wizard continued down the corridor and Lily motioned them to follow. James agreed and they hurried off silently after the wizard as though they weren't there at all.

In the rush of the chase, James stepped on Lily's foot a couple of times and she kept glaring at him but he didn't notice. Lily admired how focused James was. His eyes were set ahead of him and Lily imagined he only saw what was in front of him. They looked pretty in the moonlight too. They'd sort of gone a gold brown kind of colour and it reminded Lily of a jar of honey.  
After going up and down a dozen different stairwells and corridors, the wizard finally found the room he was looking for. It was an unused broom closet and Lily and James looked at each other uncertainly but nevertheless followed the wizard into the room, quietly slipping in after him.

Lily had to hold back a gasp. The broom closet was not just a broom closet. It must've had some sort of Undetectable Extension charm placed on it because, despite the tiny door and odd location, the room looked like an unused classroom. Desks were pushed up against the wall and a black board and projector stood side by side at the front of the room. In the free space, over a dozen witches and wizards were standing around chatting. Lily recognised only Professor McGonagall and the wizard they followed. Lily looked up at James again and felt as though he recognised a lot more of the witches and wizards.

Lily noticed a group of witches reading the Prophet and read the title, 'Muggle Family Tortured With The Cruciatus Curse'. Lily had to stifle another gasp and James grabbed her hand out of reflex. Lily was surprised but given the circumstances, didn't pull her hand away.

Professor Dumbledore waltzed in, his blue robes looked bright and unusual against the dark green and black cloaks. He commanded everyone to move away from the centre of the room. Everyone listened and Dumbledore, with a flick of his wand, moved all the desks to the middle of the room so they made a long table made out of school desks. With another flick of his wand, all the chairs moved around the tables. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table and the others filled in the chairs around them. Lily quickly did a head count and found that there were nineteen people there excluding Dumbledore.

They all looked at Dumbledore, waiting for him to speak. Lily felt like asking him to hurry up.

"Good Evening, everyone. Thank you all for coming again, I trust you are all well and properly fed."

Some people nodded or smiled and others just stared blank eyed at Dumbledore waiting for him to get to the point.

"Very well. It is under my notice that Voldemort's efforts are getting larger and more extravagant. I have no immediate plans to interfere with what the ministry is doing," there was a small outburst of outrage but Dumbledore spoke over them, "For, I agree with what Minister Minchum is doing. He has taken much of the advice I have given him and the ministry, we believe, remains strong against Voldemort. They have an entire new department, it is of secret nature I believe, called the Department of Arrests and Detainment of Death Eaters, shortened simply to D.A.D."

"Dad?" a small witch wrinkled her nose.

"That's Emmeline Vance," James whispered, "Alice's sister."

Lily recognised her barely. Last time she had seen Emmeline Vance she was wearing Hogwarts school robes and it had been 1974. Emmeline had had short blonde hair but now it was reaching her waist and a dark brown colour. The Vance's must've had a similar likeness of drastic hair changes.

"Fabi! Did you hear that?" Emmeline asked a handsome wizard with a strong jaw line and a muscular body. He turned her attention to her.

"Yes, dear."

A wizard next to Fabi started laughing, "Already practicing for the marriage are you?"

"Oh shut up, Gideon you git," Emmeline said but she was laughing.

Professor McGonagall silenced the three of them with a look but they weren't the only ones to have gotten distracted.

"But Dumbledore, surely there must be something more that you can do?" Professor McGonagall asked with a certain urgency to her voice.

"Brilliant as I am with excellent resources, I'm afraid to say that the sides are even. Voldemort has powerful, dark magic to which extent even I am not sure of and he's building an army-"

"Right!" said a wizard slamming his hand on the table and James' hand tightened around Lily's, "So we should be creating our own army! Your army!" he said jabbing his finger at Dumbledore. "We would all gladly fight with you for this cause! I would gladly _die_ for this cause!"

There was a mutter of agreement across the table and the wizard sat back down again. Lily thought there was something familiar about him but Lily couldn't place a finger on it, something about the face seemed familiar.

"Very well, Monty," McGonagall said, "Let's just rally up an army out of a population of wizard folk who are locking their doors in fear of Death Eaters and Voldemort!"

"I never said it would be easy! But we should be doing something instead of waiting around like cockroaches to be stepped on."

"I heard he was trying to get the giants, the ones the ministry exiled, on his side," a measley man said.

"Doesn't the image of a gigantic foot stomping down on us really bring out Monty's metaphor of us being cockroaches?" Gideon asked and Fabi had to suppress a laugh. Lily suspected Emmeline kicked them under the table.

"I have taken all your ideas into account and if I see prudent I shall start an organisation against Voldemort's efforts but as of this time, I do not see it fit. I remind you all to be careful and to report anything at all to me or to the Auror Office."

"Where is Alastor?" Emmeline asked. "He said he'd be here tonight."

"He's been called to investigate the muggle family who's been tortured," Dumbledore said gravely.

"Oh."

"As I was saying, report anything unusual to myself or Alastor. The next meeting will be in a month. Until then, be careful."

Chairs scraped against stone as all the witches and wizards stood up to leave. Dumbledore remained seated and so did McGonagall. Once the door to exit opened, Lily and James slipped out and stayed silent until they reached the Gryffindor common room.

As soon as they were in the common room, they threw the cloak off of themselves and James sat down on the couch. Lily paced up and down so she could think. She hadn't realised just how big Dumbledore's part in the war was. People wanted him to start an army. People wanted to follow Dumbledore. It was quite amazing really.

"So," Lily started awkwardly. "That was … unexpected."

"My dad was there, the wizard, Monty. That was my dad."

"I didn't realise your dad was part of Dumbledore's inner circle."

"You think that was Dumbledore's inner circle?"

"Maybe not all of it, I believe a man like Dumbledore would have a lot of associates and friends, but I do believe that was part of it. I only recognised McGonagall and that wizard in the purple robes."

"Shacklebolt? Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"That's his name!" Lily said clicking her fingers.

"There were a lot of old wizard families there. Edgar Bones, Elphias Doge, the Prewett brothers, Emmeline Vance and I even saw Andromeda Tonks! Sirius's cousin. A lot of young faces."

"Well if Dumbledore's thinking of starting an army, the younger the better."

"Andromeda has a four year old daughter at home," James said dejectedly and Lily sighed sitting down next to James.

"War isn't fair, Potter. My granddad died in World War Two. My mother still cries about it every year on the twenty-second of October. War is … war. It's hard and cruel and unkind to mankind. It's malicious and terrible and unforgiving. People will die, it's inevitable and maybe that's what's so tragic about a war. But if wars didn't happen we wouldn't have the world we have. My grandad died but maybe he died to save someone. Maybe his life saved a life. Maybe he saved ten lives, twenty lives, maybe even a hundred. Isn't that what a war is about? Saving innocent lives? If Dumbledore starts this army, I'll join."

"Don't be stupid, Evans. A war isn't fun and games. And sure your grandad may have saved a hundred lives in this world war that I've never heard of but your mother cries on the same day every year. Was it really worthwhile?"

"Better than a hundred families crying on the same day every year. Are you saying you wouldn't fight? For muggle-borns, for people like me."

"Of course I'd fight, Evans. I just don't see why people who have things to lose fight in them."

"It's because if you've got things to lose, you have something worth fighting for."

Author's Note:

Hey guys, I know I don't do a lot of author's notes but I just wanted to say that I really appreciate every view/follow/fav/review! So _thank you_ times a million for giving my story a chance!

-Natalie x


	11. Chapter 10: A Trip Into A Mind

As Halloween crept closer, Lily found herself hanging around the Marauders more frequently. McGonagall had forbidden Lily and James to talk about what they were doing to anyone so Lily couldn't tell her friends. James', however already knew (not that McGonagall knew that they knew) so they were free to talk about it. It was a week before Halloween and Lily was sitting with them in the Library but they weren't working, books lay open and parchments sat half written on but their quills lay on the desks and forgotten about.

"What if something goes wrong and Evans can always see into your mind?" Sirius asked taking a swig from a flask.

"Black, please tell me that there is pumpkin juice in that flask."

"Sure," he said after a pause, "If you count pumpkin juice as Firewhiskey."

"Black!"

"Do you want some?" he asked offering the small silver flask to her. She looked at it disdainfully and before she could decline, James snatched it out of Sirius's hand and took a swig.

"Boys," Lily rolled her eyes. "And as for the spell, I'm not going to stuff it up."

"You better not, Evans. That's my best mate we're talking about."

"Oi, tone it down a bit, Padfoot," James said and he winked at Lily, "Evans, will do the spell perfectly."

"Well, if you're so nervous about me doing the spell on Potter. Why don't I try a test run on you now?" Lily bluffed, wiggling her fingers.

"I would let you but I don't want permanent brain damage."

Lily scrunched up a piece of parchment and chucked it at Sirius. "How on earth did I get stuck doing a group project with you lot?"

"Well, Professor Scrivens said to go by tables and you were sitting on our table for some reason," Peter shrugged and Remus sighed.

"I don't think she meant literally, Wormtail."

"What's with these nicknames you've all given each other?" Lily asked curiously. "Padfoot," she said pointing to Sirius, "Wormtail," she said gesturing to Peter who was trying to look at the tip of his nose, "Moony," she continued pointing to Remus, "And Prongs," she looked at James, "I just don't get it."

"One more week, Evans," Sirius said.

"And you'll understand," Remus added.

"Everything," Peter added dramatically and James rolled his eyes and Lily didn't know whether to laugh or be frightened.

"Are you guys a part of a cult or something?"

"What the bloody hell is a 'cult'?" Sirius asked.

Lily sighed, "Don't worry." She yawned and leaned her head on James's shoulder. She didn't even realise she'd done something out of the ordinary until James's body went stiff from surprise. They'd been together so much in the past week, it was just a reflex and it felt natural, like how it did before summer so Lily kept her head on his shoulder. She was tired. He was comfortable.

—

Marlene frowned. She sat in the library with Nate and, much to her disdain, Mia Scott though that wasn't the reason for the frown.

"Stop staring, Marls. You'll burn a hole through Evans' head," Nate said not looking up from his textbook.

"Come on! It's so weird," Marlene exclaimed, tugging the book out from his hands so he'd pay attention to her. "I mean look! She is resting her head on Potter's shoulder yet she claims they aren't together. And she hangs out with them _all the time_."

Nate glanced at the group of five sitting on the other side of the library. "Potter did save her," Nate pointed out. "And they are doing the DA project together."

Marlene shook her head. "She's hiding something," Marlene insisted. "She sits with them for meals, sits with them in class when she can and now she's doing homework with them? And she's resting her head on his shoulder _still_!"

"You rest your head on my shoulder all the time," Nate pointed out.

Marlene rolled her eyes and tsked. "You're like my brother, it doesn't count. You couldn't cut the sexual tension between Lily and Potter with the strongest slicing charm. Do you think they finally shagged? It would explain why they're so … together. But why wouldn't she just tell us?"

"Maybe you're reading too much into it?" Mia suggested and Marlene stared at her and then, "No. No, I am not because this is weird!"

Nate chuckled. "I think you're being weird. Can I have my book back now?"

"Only if you admit it's weird."

"Fine. It's weird. Now book," he demanded and Marlene slid it over and he rolled his eyes, "You couldn't keep it open on the page I had it on?"

But Marlene wasn't paying attention. Her eyes focused on her friend and her new friends. Lily was laughing at something one of them said and Potter was grinning mischievously. Nate waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Would you stop staring? You're are about as subtle as a hippogriff."

Marlene scowled but looked away. "It's _weird_."

"We've established," Nate deadpanned, "Now can you concentrate on this? I want to get to dinner."

—

James Potter didn't know what was happening to the world. Lily Evans, the girl he'd inevitably been crushing on since third grade, was treating him like a friend. Sirius had warned him, "Don't get your hopes up," but it was done. The hopes were flying and soaring in James's mind even though he knew somewhere deep down that nothing would ever happen. Probably. James had to give himself credit because however unofficial he still managed to snog Lily in a few broom closets before last summer. James reckoned he had a twelve percent chance of getting Evans to agree to go to the next Hogsmeade trip with him.

"Is that all?" Sirius snorted as he shoved a piece of cake down his throat. "I'd have a bigger chance at asking a stranger to the next Hogsmeade trip."

They were in the Great Hall for dinner but it was almost empty now, only a few students remained on the Gryffindor table.

"Well, to be fair so do I but it's _her_. It's Lily Evans and she's inside my head and I just, she's always been there and now I feel like a have a real chance, you know?"

"Well in five days, she will literally be inside your head and she's gonna find out everything. You're a complete tosser, by the way."

"Geez, thanks," James groaned.

"She's gonna see how many times you doodled her initials onto pieces of parchment when you're bored and how nervous you got every single time before you'd ask her out and basically see how shit you felt every time she rejected you. I don't know why you're doing this to be honest. It's like signing up for humiliation. You obsessed over that bird so much you basically stalked her."

"Great mate you are," James huffed, his ears going red. Sure he'd done that stuff, he just hadn't realised his mates had noticed. "I'm going back to the dorm."

Sirius just nodded and kept eating and James rolled his eyes. Sirius always ate and it was quite worrying. James was afraid that one day his broomstick wouldn't lift off the ground.

James didn't like the fact that he couldn't get over Lily. He wished he could and he wondered if his past relationships would've survived if he could get over her. All his ex-girlfriends had said the same thing. That James was disinterested in them, that he would blank out mid conversation to get a glimpse at Lily. It wasn't their fault. They just didn't compare to Lily. No one could in James's eyes. There were beautiful girls and then there was Lily.

If beautiful was a country, Lily would reign over it. Her long red hair would become sacred and her emerald eyes would be an omen from the heavens. She was kind with her feisty temper matching her hair and across the land, people with red hair would be honoured because they had the same colour as their great Queen. But it was more than just her looks. A part of her beauty was in her kindness, her selflessness.

James climbed into the Portrait Hole and headed up the stairs, as he did so he started to unbutton his shirt and take off his tie. He walked into his room only to jump back startled. Lily was sitting on Sirius's bed reading his muggle studies textbook.

"Oh!" she said loudly turning around so her back was facing him. "Hi."

"Evans? What're you doing in my dorm?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"You can turn around you know."

She did and she said, "Seriously, Potter, can't you button up?"

"Is it distracting you?" James asked with a smirk and Lily rolled her eyes and looked away. It _was_ distracting her but she didn't need him to know that.

"You're an arse."

"Why're you here then?"

Lily shook her head and remembered why she was here.

"I'm scared," she blurted out and her shoulders slumped a little.

"Why?" James asked concerned.

"Just about everything. I've, I've started to get nightmares about, about," Lily didn't seem able to finish but James knew what she meant. She was having nightmares about the attack. "And I'm scared about Halloween. What if I don't get the spell right?"

"You will."

"But what if I don't?"

"You will."

"But what if I don't?!"

"You will, but if you don't you better visit me in St Mungo's."

"Why?"

"Because, if I'm in hospital with a kooky brain, I'm gonna need a pretty lady to keep my spirits up," James said with a grin and Lily blushed. James laid down on his bed, "C'mere," he said gesturing to the spot next to him. "We'll go over it and over it as long as you need."

Lily seemed hesitant for a moment but she crawled onto the bed next to James and James started talking and suddenly Lily didn't feel so scared anymore. James thought that this was the most natural thing there was and felt as though nothing could hurt him here. As though, if they were to lay there forever they'd live forever. The moment was immortalised in his brain and forever would be until his last breath.

—

Ella was walking with Marlene who had dropped the Putley subject on the grounds of obsessing over how friendly Lily had become with the Marauders over the last week or so. Lily was walking a few meters ahead of them with the Marauders and Marlene was staring at them sourly.

"I mean, it's like she's completely forgotten us!"

"She has been a little M.I.A lately," Ella frowned because even though the rest of the girls hadn't noticed straight away like Marlene had, they definitely noticed now. They only saw Lily for very brief periods of time either at meals, before classes or most commonly, in their dormitory before bed.

"A little?" Marlene said incredulously. "She won't even tell us why she's hanging out with them so much."

"Maybe she will," Ella reasoned. "Maybe she isn't ready to tell us that her and Potter shagged."

"How do you know they shagged?"

A pause. "It's an assumption. What else could have Lily hanging out with them in every spare minute? And the timing is questionable. The day after she broke up with Fortescue, she started hanging out with them."

Marlene frowned. "How do you know that?"

"It's the day you started nagging about it."

Marlene hit her. "No one is allowed to call me a nag anymore!"

"Then stop being one." Marlene glared at her. "Okay, okay. You're not a nag. You're just very passionate and you like letting people know just how passionate you are."

Marlene rolled her eyes. " _Thanks_."

"No problem."

They rounded the corner and Ella slammed right into Michael Putley, her books falling to the floor.

"Shit, Ella," Marlene exclaimed, bending down to help her with her books, "You okay?"

Ella nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked at Michael. "Hi," she said quietly.

"Watch were you're going, Dearborn." Was all he said before walking off.

"Dick!" Ella exploded to Marlene once he was far enough away.

"You did let him kiss you and then turn him down."

"He's still a dick — oh look, Lily's heading off somewhere by herself." Sure enough, Lily turned into a different corridor to the Marauders and Marlene and Ella were quick to catch up.

"Lils!" they shouted and she turned, a smile on her face.

"Hey, guys. What are you up to?"

"We were heading to the library to do homework. Want to join?"

"I'd love to but Sirius needs help with Charms. I was just going to drop this off at the library. Actually would you mind taking it for me since you're already going there?" Lily asked, oblivious to the faces her two mates were pulling.

"Uh, sure," Ella said grabbing the book off Lily.

"Maybe you can sit with us for dinner?" Marlene suggested.

"Sure," Lily agreed, "See you guys later!" With that she ran off the other way. "Oi! Black!" they heard her shout. "Wait up!"

"Evans," they heard Black say back, "That was the quickest trip to the library I've ever witnessed."

"My book hitched a ride," her voice faded as they walked further away.

Marlene turned to Ella. "That did not just happen."

"It just happened," Ella confirmed.

"They're like … friends," Marlene wrinkled her nose.

"Three galleons says she still sits with them for dinner."

"I would take you up on that but I don't want to lose three galleons. Mum and Dad only gave me fifteen for the entire school year so I am on a very tight budget."

"Sucks to be you. Do you think Adaline will take me up on the bet?"

Marlene shrugged. "Probably."

—

Adaline walked to dinner with Thomas.

"Don't be daft," Adaline scoffed, "Of course we would win against a vampire attack!"

"We would be sleeping," Thomas said matter-of-factly.

"Yes but they can't suck the blood of every human over night," Adaline pointed out as they both took a seat at the Gryffindor table. Adaline paused for a moment to let that sink in, a small smile on her face. "The next morning we'd wake up, be like 'vamps gone out of control' and we'd just stake them whilst _they_ are sleeping."

"But we can't get every vampire!"

"You're fear of a vampire apocalypse is completely irrational," Adaline argued for the tenth time. "They need us to survive!"

"They could live off of animals."

"But they prefer human."

"Exactly! What if they like us just a little too much that they decide to wipe us out?"

Adaline rolled her eyes. "I'm really not going to be able to persuade you otherwise, am I?"

"Nope."

"It's totally irrational."

Marlene and Ella sat down opposite them. "What's irrational?" Ella asked.

"Fear of a vampire apocalypse," Adaline shrugged, piling beef stew onto her plate.

"Not as irrational as you may think," Ella countered, "Read an article over the summer that vampire numbers were in fact rising."

" _That's_ what I'm talking about!" Thomas exclaimed, pointing a finger at Ella.

"Don't egg him on," Adaline complained.

"I think it's irrational," Marlene inputted before sitting up straight and nudging Ella. Ella looked at the doors and Adaline did too.

"Why are we staring at Lily?" Thomas asked but the girls hushed him, anticipating what Lily was going to do.

Lily stood with the Marauders, chatting and Ella tsked. "She said she'd sit with us."

"Bet you a galleon she doesn't," Marlene sung.

Peter and Sirius sat down but Lily didn't make a move. She turned to towards her friends.

"I don't believe it. Blimey, she's actually going to sit with us," Ella exclaimed but she spoke too soon. Lily pulled a sad face and mouthed, "Sorry" and followed Potter and Lupin to where the other two were sitting.

"Someone owes me a galleon," Marlene announced.

"No actually, we don't. No one took you up on your bet, Marls. That's not the way betting works."

"Can't believe she didn't sit with us," Ella frowned. "I am officially ignoring her."

"Do you think she'd notice?" Adaline asked sourly.

"Probably not," Marlene agreed.

"Oh, so you guys are mad at Lily because she's dating Potter," Thomas guessed.

"They aren't dating, Tommy. They're just always … together," Adaline frowned.

"It's getting quite annoying," Ella added just as Alice sat down next to her.

"What's annoying?"

"Lily," the three girls said simultaneously.

"Ah."

Marlene and Ella proceeded to tell them the run-in they'd had with Lily in the afternoon and the girls agreed that they should start treating Lily as she had been treating them.

"Don't you think that's adding fuel to the fire?" Thomas asked. "Maybe she's got a good excuse for hanging out with the boys a lot. Maybe you should just try talking to her about it, instead of, you know, making it bigger."

"Bless your Hufflepuff heart," Alice sighed.

"And it's not 'a lot'," Marlene corrected, "It's all the bloody time."

"She's asking for it," Ella shrugged.

Adaline shrugged. "I'm with them. Lily's been so stand-offish the last week or so, it's ridiculous."

"Ella, not to alarm you, but Michael Putley is staring at you," Alice noted.

Ella snapped her head up from her food and scowled. "Dick."

"Arse."

"Wait, we don't like Putley now?" Alice frowned. "I thought we were routing for Ella and him to date."

"Nah. He's being mean," Marlene sighed. "Ella deserves better than a guy who can't handle a no."

"I am right here," Ella said disgruntled that they decided to talk about her love life as though she weren't even there.

"Damn," Alice said, "Because he is H.O.T."

"Would've made adorable blue eyed babies," Adaline agreed.

"Again, right here."

—

Halloween was two days away and James was trying his best not to think about it. It wasn't an easy thing to willingly let someone into your head let alone your all time crush. Lily would be gracious about it, that James was sure of and as her bond became closer with the group he was sure that she would keep their secret. It was the other stuff James was worried about. His bad moments, like when he and Sirius bullied Snape and cursed him. Or when he would yell at his mother out of frustration on the holidays because she wouldn't leave him alone. Or maybe she'd look at him differently once she saw just how much he fancied her.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked. They had been sitting in the common room doing a potions essay on Amortentia. They'd be making it after Halloween and Professor Slughorn wanted to make sure that everyone understood all of the properties it possesses and why it can effectively be a dangerous potion. It had gotten late though. Only a few older students still sat around the common room completing homework and the fire was getting smaller by the hour.

"Nothing."

"You've barely written a word in the last five minutes."

"Well, neither have you if you've been watching me."

"Don't be cheeky. Come on, what's wrong?"

James sighed, "You'll find out soon enough."

James could see Lily fighting her anger. She attempted to say something and then closed her mouth. She was like a mute person trying to speak. Her features went hard and her eyes boiled into him.

"Potter-"

"Must we still call each other by our last names?"

" _Potter_ , just because of the spell doesn't mean we can't have a normal conversation!"

"No, you don't understand," James sighed. "You'll find out eventually."

"Potter, stop playing games. What'll I find out eventually?"

James was silent for a moment and he stared at his barely written essay. He couldn't tell her.

"What do you think is another negative of Amortentia?" he asked instead and she stood up suddenly. James was surprised but he supposed she was pissed off with him. He could see where she was coming from but he couldn't help but childly think, _she's not the one who is going to have her memories on display_.

"You know, Potter. I don't have to do this. I'm doing this for you. You could at least be somewhat nice to me."

"Then why are you doing this? Huh?"

"Because, because I don't know! I care!" Lily exploded. "Was that what you wanted to hear? That I care! Well I do."

"Well maybe you should stop."

James wanted to murder himself. His long time crush told him that she cared about him and he told her to stop. He was an idiot.

"Maybe I should. How about if you want to be acquitted for attempted murder you tell me on the day how you're feeling? Or better yet why don't you just send Black!? He seems to talk to me more than you do!"

"Fine then! I will!"

"Fine!" Lily snapped and she gathered her things and James watched as she swept up the staircase to the girls dormitories.

—

Lily had never been so furious. Just when she had thought she was finally getting on well with Potter he went and proved her wrong. She was sick of hearing 'she'd find out eventually'. James was always saying that to questions Lily asked him. Lily couldn't help but get angry over it. Yes she'd be in his head. That didn't mean she was going to find out everything. She was just going to stay in his head until she found the memory of what he was doing on the morning Mia Scott was attacked.

She stormed into her dormitory and found the four girls, sitting up in their beds reading.

"Why are boys such arrogant pricks?" Lily exploded. "I mean why can't they just answer a simple question without being so damn cryptic?"

"Noticed us again, have you?" Alice asked icily and Lily was taken aback. It had been quite a few days since the girls had decided to ignore Lily but it had been futile because Lily hadn't been around them long enough to notice something was up.

"What do you mean?" she puzzled.

"You've barely spoken to us in two weeks. How's hanging out with the Marauders, then?" Ella asked bitterly.

"Nice of you to include us by the way," Marlene added.

"Are you and Potter finally going out then?" Alice asked. "Just thought you would've wanted to tell us, since we're your best friends but I guess I was wrong."

"Are you serious?" Lily asked outraged. She couldn't tell her friends one thing and they immediately think she's secretly dating Potter. Probably the only male to continuously piss her off on a daily basis.

"Well you've suddenly ditched us in all our classes and you go off gallivanting with Potter and Black at night, what the hell are we meant to think?" Adaline exploded and Lily was truly astonished.

"I'm not going out with Potter," Lily defended.

"Really? Looks that way to us. You don't have to lie to us, Lily."

"I'm not lying!" Marlene rolled her eyes and Lily looked desperately at all of them. "I can't believe you would think I would lie about something like that! Ella," Lily turned to her friend but Ella just shook her head.

"You're hiding something, Lily. If you're not shagging Potter then I don't know what you're hiding."

"You all seriously think I'm shagging Potter!?" Lily asked outraged. They all stared at Lily, voiceless. "I see," she said bitterly. "I guess, I'll sleep in the common room tonight."

Lily grabbed her pyjamas and went to the bathroom. She changed quickly, brushing her teeth and letting her hair out. She looked at herself in the mirror. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. Not in front of them. She collected herself and walked out. She dumped her school robes and uniform on the bed and pulled off the top blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders. She left the dorm and as she was walking down the stairs she hoped James would've left by now.

She peeked out and saw that the common room had completely emptied. She slumped her shoulders and walked to the longest couch the Gryffindor common room had. It was a red one near the fire and it's cushions were probably the best Lily had ever felt. They never seemed to go flat. The fire was almost out now and the common room was freezing so she shot some more flames into the fire and it perked up a little.

She lay down on the couch, facing the fire and watching the flames wave and spit out sparks occasionally. The first tear fell. She felt like everything was falling apart. Her friends hated her. Potter hated her. She couldn't hang out with the Marauders if Potter hated her it'd be too weird and the Marauders stick together. If Lily knew anything it was that. She'd be alone tomorrow. Lily could do alone. She did alone when she was at home and Petunia refused to talk to her. She could handle it.

She couldn't believe her friends yet she couldn't help but know it was her fault. She'd let the ball drop. She'd gone off with the Marauders and left her friends behind. Maybe that's why she found it so frustrating because she could feel herself slipping away from them and the little voices reminded her of her friends, yet she ignored it thinking they'd understand. But how could they understand if Lily couldn't tell them all the information?

She didn't know who she was more upset and angry at: Potter, her friends or herself.

"Evans?"

Lily stopped crying and used the blanket to wipe her tears away before sitting up.

"Black. How'd you know it was me?"

"Hair. I think anyone could spot it a mile away."

Lily smiled but it was weak and her eyes started to water again.

"What have you snuck out to do now?"

"I glued Filch's door stuck."

"What else?" Lily inquired knowing Sirius.

"I may have jinxed the suits of armour to sing Mama Mia by ABBA whenever someone walks past. How funny is it going to be? All the pure-bloods will be so bloody confused and the muggle-borns will just be like 'hey, I know that song!'"

"You're so bloody weird, Black."

Sirius sat next to Lily and they leaned against the backrest. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?" Lily looked at him questioningly. "You're sleeping in the common room and your eyes are as puffy as a puffskein, I'm not a bloody moron."

Lily blushed and then, because she really had nothing to lose, told Sirius everything about James and her friends. He listened. He didn't interrupt Lily, he just let her rant.

"Well, Prongs is easy. He's scared."

"Of what?"

"Of you finding out everything. When he said, 'you'll find out eventually', he meant you'll find out everything eventually. It's a little mortifying when you think about it. And as for your friends, after Halloween they'll understand."

"Meanwhile, I'm stuck in the common room."

"I can stay for a bit if you want."

"Want to play chess?"

Sirius nodded and grabbed the set of wizards chess that sat on the table.

"What's Potter so scared of me finding out?"

Sirius looked at Lily and smiled, "That's for you to find out and for Prongs to tell."

Lily nodded. "My mum's name is Rosie by the way, Sirius."

"My mum's name is Walburga. Horrible name isn't it, Lily?" Sirius asked when she tried to stifle a laugh.

"Just a bit."

"It's all right, you can laugh. She's an old, pure-blood hag anyways."

"That bad?"

"All about blood purity," Sirius rolled his eyes and moved a pawn, "Want to know how I used to rebel against her?" Lily nodded, "I would collect muggle posters from magazines and use irreversible sticking charms and hang them in my room. Drove her mad, it did."

"Are they still there?"

"Should be, unless the old hag invented a spell that can reverse the charm. Oh, the shame it brought her to have muggle objects in her house."

"What do you mean should be?" Lily moved a pawn and it smashed one of Sirius's pawns.

"I live with James now. I ran away and my family disowned me. I have exactly two relatives that I talk to. My Uncle Alphard and my first cousin, Andromeda who married a muggle-born, Ted Tonks."

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"Don't be. They were horrible pure-blood maniacs who would've relished in the exile and torture of muggle-borns. I'm better off without them."

"They agree with Voldemort?"

"They think he's got the right idea. I obviously don't. What about your parents? What do they do?" Sirius asked as he moved a rook.

"My dad works in a factory and my mum's a nurse at the hospital."

"That's like a doctor isn't it?"

"Sort of, they help to heal people but they're on a lower level to doctors."

"Ahh," Sirius said and Lily got the impression that he had no idea what she was talking about. "Do they know much, about our world?"

"You mean the war?"

"Yeah."

"No," Lily said shaking her head. "Well yes, I told them but they just think it's little protests movements you know? Nothing to worry about. They don't know he's actually going around and torturing muggles."

Sirius nodded as he checkmated.

"You're horrible at chess," he stated.

"Thanks," Lily said.

"You still going to help James?"

"Probably."

"That's good. He doesn't deserve to get accused of murder."

"I know."

"Azkaban is no place for an innocent person."

"I know that too," Lily said quietly and goose bumps rose when she thought of the dementors. Lily had never been to Azkaban and she never wanted to experience it. You'd have to be crazy to want to go to Azkaban.

"I wonder what I would see if I ever met a dementor."

"I'd rather not know."

"It'd just be interesting to see if what I consider as my worse memory is actually my worse memory."

"I guess. But still…"

"You'd rather not know."

"Yep. Easier to get scared or haunted by something when you know exactly what it is that scares or traumatises you."

"I guess."

Lily leaned back on the couch.

"What do you want to do when you leave school?"

"Auror. You?" he asked back.

"I've no idea. Perhaps a healer, or an auror."

"Come be an auror with me Lily. We could be the best team."

"Ditching Potter are you?"

"Only for you."

Lily laughed, "You're such a goof. What do you think your worse memory is?"

"The moment I realised I hated my mother. I was fifteen and for a few years I had been making excuses for her views on blood purity. You know, she was brought up that way, she doesn't know any better and just stuff like that and then one day she said, "I hope all the muggle-borns out there know that they are just abnormalities and thieves. They should all be executed" and I tried to fight her opinion. I said that one of the smartest people in my year was a muggle-born. 'Brilliant at potions she was' I had said and I'd never had such a beating before. She yelled and screamed about how any blood-traitor wouldn't be welcome in her house whether I was her son or not. Reg just sat on the couch watching. It took a binding spell for my father to restrain her. I thought she was going to kill me. They sent me to bed that night without supper. The next night I packed and left for James' house."

Sirius looked over at Lily but she'd fallen asleep. Instead of waking her up, he got up gently and pulled the blanket over her. He added another log to the fire and shot flames into it to spruce it up. Then he left for his own bed. It was getting late.

—

James decided to go down early for breakfast. He'd avoid seeing Lily though, he'd never admit that was the actual reason. His 'reason' was that he had some homework he forgot to do last night which was utter rubbish because Lily had made sure they'd done all the homework before they moved on to the Potions essay.

He stepped into the common room and saw a bunch of first years crowding around the couch that was near the fireplace. He found it odd but didn't think much of it. First years usually were a little weird and a nuisance.

"Do you think she's dead?" one of them whispered and that caught James's attention. He walked over to the group and saw what they were marvelling at.

Lily Evans was curled up on the couch so still that not even the blanket twitched. She looked cute when she was sleeping. Her hair covered half her face and the rest covered the pillow, her knees were brought up to her chest as though she was still a baby in the womb. James sighed when he realised that his plan of avoiding Lily Evans for the day was going to go haywire and he hadn't even been up for an hour.

"All right, leave her alone," James ordered the first years. "Show's over."

They looked at him reproachfully.

"Go before I hex you!"  
"You can't, you're Head Boy!" one of them sneered and James rolled his eyes.

"Wanna bet?"

The first years didn't seem to want to take the chance and scurried off, one dropped a set of scales and fumbled with the parchments she was holding.

James crouched down by Lily. He guessed there wasn't any avoiding Lily Evans. He checked his watch and saw that it was only six thirty and he knew she usually got up at seven thirty but he couldn't just leave her here for everyone to watch her. He groaned slightly before standing. He prayed she was a heavy sleeper before picking her up bridal style, he had an odd sense of déjà vu as carried her up the stairs to his dormitory. He placed her on his bed and woke up the boys quietly. Sirius seemed to understand straight away, though Brown took some convincing and they all headed down for breakfast at a quarter to seven, leaving Lily alone to sleep in their dormitory.

"I don't see why we had to get up?" grumbled Peter, who always loved to sleep in.

"Because, it's quite perverted for a girl to sleep in a room with four other men," Remus explained for the fiftieth time as they finished breakfast. "Without her knowing."

Brown hadn't sat with them at the Gryffindor table, he hardly ever did. He never seemed to agree with the other boys in his dormitory. They were too loud, troublesome and annoying whereas Brown was quiet and simple. He just didn't fit in. Instead he hung out with a group of Ravenclaw boys in their year.

"Have you noticed Brown's more quiet than usual?" Remus said thoughtfully.

"Maybe," Sirius considered.

"Talks less with his Ravenclaw mates," Peter commented.

"Do you think he's depressed?" James asked.

"Moment of silence for his tragic fall into depression?" Sirius proposed and he grabbed James' hand. They all grabbed hands and sat in silence for a moment with their eyes closed.

"Are you guys in a cult or something?" a voice asked and they all jumped and let go of each other's hands. Lily was standing behind them with a raised eyebrow. She had changed into her uniform and her hair had been brushed and now flowed nicely down her back. She sat down next to Sirius, still annoyed at James.

"Depends who you ask," Sirius joked.

"It wouldn't involve moving girls to your dormitory in the middle of the night, would it, Sirius?" she asked eyeing Sirius and James felt slightly jealous. Why would she assume that Sirius put her there?

"Yeah, but you can't tell anyone or else McGonagall might have our heads," he said and Lily rolled her eyes with a small smile.

"I, uh, got to go," James coughed awkwardly. Before anyone could say anything he got up and left.

His best mate was flirting with the girl he'd had a crush on since forever. James didn't like it at all. The Marauders knew that Lily was off limits and James was confused as to why Lily would even think Sirius moved her up to their dorm. Better yet James didn't know why Sirius went along with it when he knew it had been James who had moved Lily.

James just wanted to get Lily out of his head. Why was it so hard? He knew that she didn't feel that way about him. He knew nothing would ever happen. He knew that Lily Evans was too good for him. He knew all of it. So why was it so damn hard? It was like Lily Evans was James's own personal type of drug. She intoxicated him and the air around him still breathed her. Everything was Lily in his mind. Every prank, every thought, every idea had that underlining thought. What would Lily think? Everything was about Lily. He'd gotten good at hiding it, especially the past year but James dreamt about her. He thought of ways to sweep her off her feet even though he knew none of them would work. He just wished he could stop thinking about her so he could move on. He felt so stuck and it was frustrating. What if he never felt this way about another girl again and he ended up alone and old and bitter because the girl he loved didn't love him back? James didn't want to be that person.

"Potter!" a voice called out. James knew who the voice belonged to.

"Go away, Evans," he said not bothering to turn around. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Well tough luck," she said catching up to him and grabbing his arm. He cringed when he felt the weird fluttering in his stomach that happened whenever Lily got too close or her voice took him by surprise. He closed his eyes not wanting to see Lily's gorgeous face. "Sirius told me it was you."

They're on first name basis now, that was news to James and a further thing to be jealous about.

"What about it?"

"Well why?"

"Didn't want the whole of Gryffindor to see the disgusting drool that was sliding out of your mouth and onto the cushions. Can you leave me alone now?"

"Right," Lily said and James could tell she was offended. "Are we still doing the thing tomorrow? I just need to know."

"Whatever, Evans. I don't care."

"What the hell are you mad at me for?" Lily burst. "In case you'd forgotten, I was mad at you!"

"Yeah well now I'm mad at you!" James retorted and Lily slitted her eyes.

"Why?"

James shrugged. "You'll find out I guess!" he said just to piss her off more.

"URGH!" she shrieked. "You're such an arrogant toerag!"

"See you at eight tomorrow in McGonagall's office," James said simply before slipping behind a tapestry into a hidden corridor.

—

Lily woke up feeling nervous. It was Halloween today. She'd literally have a glimpse into James's mind and whilst it may sound cool and exciting, Lily didn't much like the idea of having to carry some of James's secrets. She already had her own to worry about.

Her friends still weren't talking to her and she'd slept in the Marauder's dormitory last night, after stealing the couch cushions from the common room to make a temporary bed on the floor. She found it hard to sleep though, it was awkward knowing five other guys were sleeping in the same room and they talked about weird stuff, not to mention the uncomfortable make-shift bed.

Lily missed normal conversations. Conversations about boys and though she was ashamed to admit it, gossip. She missed the gossip that came with hanging out with girls. She missed Marls weird need to read something out loud before she went to bed and how Adaline would throw stuff at her until she stopped. She missed Alice's late night rants on how boys are so clueless because Frank Longbottom was oblivious to her hinting that they should buy an apartment with two bedrooms instead of one bedroom. She missed Ella's morning routine of shower, dress, dry hair and make-up. She missed girls. She didn't like Sirius's snoring or Peter's whimpers during the night. She didn't like that James was there and sometimes she felt as though he was staring at her. She wanted the comfort of her own dorm back.

"You okay?" a voice asked and Lily rolled her head to see James looking at her. She rolled it back so she was staring at the ceiling.

"Talking to me again, are you?"

"How come you still call me 'Potter'?"

"What's my mother's name?"

"Mrs Evans?" James suggested.

"Exactly. If you don't know my mother's name we aren't close enough friends yet."

"Seriously?"

Lily shrugged. "It's just a name, Potter. What difference does it make?"

"None, I guess."

"You're a bit temperamental, aren't you?" James didn't say anything and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Are you nervous for tonight?" he asked.

"Terrified. You?"

"Terrified. What if Sirius is right and I end up with a gorked brain?"

"Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Wanna skip today?"

"Can't. I've got to hand in my Arithmacy essay. Besides today in Defence we're learning how inferi are made."

"I'm gonna skip today."

Lily decided it was time to get out of bed.

"Nice pyjamas," James remarked and Lily blushed. She was wearing flannel Winnie the Pooh pyjamas. She'd had them since she was little and somehow they'd always magically grown to fit Lily.

"Sod off."

Lily went to the bathroom with her uniform bundled in her hand and started the necessary start of day things. Shower, brush teeth, change, dry hair, make-up. She came out and saw James shirtless in bed. She had seen him without a shirt on before but she couldn't help but let her eyes wander down his torso and muscular arms. They were perfectly shaped as though they were carved.

"Enjoying the view."

"You flaunt, I'll enjoy," Lily said simply.

"See, Evans. You can't go around saying stuff like that to me."

"Why?"

"You don't see it at all, do you?" he asked annoyed. "I'm freakin' in love with you and you act like you've got no clue in the world!"

Lily was taken by complete surprise. She knew Potter had fancied her but she never imagined he still would after so many months.

"I – I," she stuttered hopelessly. "Why'd you tell me that?"

James shrugged and he wouldn't look Lily in the eye. "You were going to find out anyways at least this is a little less humiliating."

"I think I should go," she said quietly. She had this piece of information and she didn't know what to do with it. She wasn't in love with James but she couldn't deny that she'd grown to like him a little more over the past couple of weeks and he was an excellent snog. Better than Andrew if she was being honest with herself. She was confused. Definitely confused because if she was being more honest with herself, the way she had felt about Andrew never compared to the way James could make Lily feel.

"Come on, just give me a sec," he said scrambling off of his bed, still shirtless. He walked right up in front of Lily, so close Lily could see tiny gold flecks in his eyes. "Tell me you don't love me. That you'll never, ever love me."

"I," Lily stopped because slowly, James leaned down and ever so softly brushed his lips over hers and it took everything she had not to snake her arms around his neck.

"Tell me you don't want this," he whispered, and she could feel his breath on her mouth. He leaned his forehead on hers and Lily, brushed her lips over his.

"I - I don't know," she whispered, her eyes shut breathing him in, all sage and pepper. She couldn't promise anything like that but she couldn't admit how she was feeling. She was feeling like one day they could love each other and it scared her to death. How could she fall for James? The guy who she'd swore she'd never fall for. How could she fall for him? She didn't know the answers but she knew that she was falling for James Potter and it scared her to death. "I have Arithmacy, now," she said quietly, pulling away from him and she fled the room with James Potter still lingering on her clothes.

Lily walked out of the common room and wandered into Arithmacy, distracted and with the attention span of a goldfish. She couldn't stop thinking about James. He told her he loved her. Her very first I love you and she didn't even love him back. She felt horrible, like a massive weight had been put on her shoulders. She didn't know what to do and she had no one to talk to about it.

They were answering questions from the textbook but Lily had barely answered the first question. She couldn't stop thinking about what James had said. She still felt shock at the thought that James _loved_ her after so many years. They'd never even dated, well, Lily thought thinking of sixth year, not officially.

"Spit it out then," Adaline said. Marlene was sitting on the other side of Adaline but pretended Lily wasn't there. Her long, thick blonde hair created a curtain to block Lily out. Adaline was looking at Lily expectantly, chewing a sugar quill.

"I thought you weren't talking to me."

"There's something bothering you, obviously and I'm willing to give you, maybe a minute, depending on how big your problem is and then we go back to not talking."

Lily was at a loss for words. She didn't know how to start. Besides she should be angry at her friends. She was angry at her friends but she also needed advice. No, she'd get it elsewhere. She was angry at her friends.

"Don't bother," Lily said bitterly.

"Lily."

"Leave me alone, Della. You guys cut me out, not the other way around. You don't have to pretend to care," Lily snapped. "Just leave me alone. Either you want to talk to me or you don't. You don't get to ask me what's wrong with me just so you can have the gossip piece of the night and then go back to hating me!"

"Lily!" she said reproachfully.

"Just leave me alone," Lily said and she created her own curtain of hair to block out Adaline. She managed to answer the first question, then the second, then the third and then she started thinking about James again.

—

It was ten minutes to eight o'clock and Lily had just finished having dinner. It was probably her least favourite Halloween feast. She was forced to sit with Daisy Ellery and Allison Hopkins and they kept asking Lily about James, who kept stealing long, uncomfortable glances at Lily. Plus Lily was nervous about the Memory Surfing charm.

"Evans!" Someone called and Lily turned around to see Remus and Sirius run after her. They stopped, panting slightly, in front of her.  
"James, he told us. What happened," Sirius said breathlessly.

"This morning," Remus clarified. "He wants you to decide what you want."

"What I want?" Lily echoed.

"Whether or not you fancy him."

"But – what? I don't, I don't know!" Lily said frustrated.

"Okay, well you better think of something."

"Geez, that helps me so much, Remus!"

"You're lucky you're even getting this. By the way James can never find out we told you. Serious bro code violations."

"Seriously? Bro code?" Lily said raising an eyebrow.

"Hey! You called Remus, 'Remus'!"

"Her mum's name is Rosie and her dad's name is Johnathan."

"Oh. Have I ever told you that you're weird, Lily?"

"Nope."

"Well you are."

"Noted. I've gotta go if I'm gonna do the spell thing."

Lily ran the rest of the way to McGonagall's office and the professor was waiting for Lily to arrive. She was leaning on her desk with a severe expression of what seemed like worry on her face.

"Good Evening, Miss Evans. I trust you've practiced the way Professor Dumbledore and myself advised?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall. I'm confident that I should be able to perform it correctly on Potter."

Professor McGonagall nodded, "Very well then, Mr Potter is waiting in the classroom across the hall. Once you go in you may start. Return to my office when you've completed. You'll need to write a written statement proving Mr Potter's innocence."

Lily nodded and left the large office. She crossed the hall and saw James pacing in the room.

"Took your time then," he accused and Lily rolled her eyes.

"I never know what to expect from you," she retorted, "Either you're exceptionally nice or you're a freaking pain in my backside!"

"Yeah, well the feeling's mutual."

"You ready then?"

"Wait. Before we start, I need to ask you something."

"I won't tell anyone what I've seen in your mind. I can do the Unbreakable Vow if you'd like."

"I trust you, Evans."

"Was that it then?"

James looked like he was about to say more but then his mouth closed and he nodded. Lily noticed his face was as pale as a sheet and she sighed.

"I'm not going to mess your brain up and I promise I won't judge your memories. I'll pretend I've never even seen them. I promise."

"Just start already."

Lily nodded. She pulled her wand out of her robe pocket and placed the end on James's right temple and placed her fingertips on his other temple so that the connection was like a voltage circuit. Lily's wand was the switch and the memories were pushed out of James's head and into Lily's through her hand and together they would be in James's head.

" _Gemynda,_ " Lily said confidently. A soft yellow glow appeared around the tip of her wand as it had in all her practicing and she smiled. The connection had been made. Then it started. She saw the first memory.

 _"We've been at this for hours," Peter said miserably, "I'm never going to get it!"_

 _They were in some sort of shack. It was old and dusty with broken furniture and eaten blankets on the bed. The floor seemed to tilt and Lily was sure that if she were to place her wand on the floor it would roll down to the door. Lily figured they were in maybe fifth year because of James's haircut. It was the longest it had ever been._

 _"Hush," Sirius said, "You're becoming an animagus whether you like it or not."_

 _"Come on, Peter. Concentrate," James said, "You can do it. Just focus. Stop telling yourself you can't. Sirius and I did it days ago. It's really not that hard."_

 _Sirius glared at him and James amended his statement, "Okay, it's a little hard. But once we get the hang of it, it'll be so easy we can do it in our sleep. All you have to do is want it."_

 _"But I'm scared. You guys said it hurt."_

 _"Stop pressuring him. If he doesn't want to do it, he doesn't have to," Remus said coming out of nowhere. He looked tired with heavy bags under his eyes. He was holding a book open in his hand and showed it to Peter._

 _"It only hurts a little bit and it's only for the first few transformations. Come on Peter, don't you want to help Moony? We've been researching this for three years! You can do this!" Sirius encouraged._

 _"On the count of three," James said. "One."_

 _"Two," Sirius continued._

 _"Three," they said together and suddenly Peter wasn't a man but a small, squeaky rat with a long tail. Wormtail, Lily realised suddenly._

 _Sirius, James and Remus cheered and jumped around high fiving each other and Lily still didn't understand why they had become animagi._

 _The memory changed and the Marauders were sitting in a room that Lily had never seen before. The walls were stone and so were the floors and it could be a classroom in the castle but it wasn't, at least none that Lily had seen before. Comfortable couches and bean bags littered around the room and the boys had sat around a small circular table. James was lounging in a red beanbag, ruffling his hair and playing with a stolen snitch. Sirius hogged up a small love seat, his legs hanging off the edge. Remus was sitting normally in an armchair and Peter was sitting on the floor, leaning on the table with a quill in his hand and a parchment on the table._

 _"So we've decided for next week's full moon?" Peter asked and they nodded. "So," he said and he started reading off the parchment. "We go to the Whomping Willow at around midnight under James's cloak. I'll turn into a rat and press the knot that disables it, then you two will transform and we'll go down the tunnel until we reach the Shrieking Shack where-"_

 _"I'll already be a wolf and a full out monster. Are you sure you want to see me that way? I truly am horrible and hideous in that state."_

 _"Shut up, Moony. We've all agreed deal with it. Continue, Wormtail."_

 _"And then we hangout at the Shrieking Shack until morning with Moony. At seven, we leave and Moony will start turning back. We go back to the common room under the cloak again, careful to avoid Madam Pomfrey."_

 _"All right then," Sirius said. "It's settled."_

 _The boys were lounging around Remus who was in a hospital bed. He still had bags under his eyes but he looked better. More healthier somehow. His face had more colour and he seemed a little happier._

 _"That went brilliantly!" Sirius said and James hushed him in case Madam Pomfrey was lurking around. "But it was!"_

 _"I'm so tired," Peter complained. "You're much larger as a wolf, Moony."_

 _Remus laughed and agreed._

 _"You guys should get to class," Remus advised. "I'll be fine. I might even make it to afternoon classes. Get the homework for me will you."_

 _"You're so lucky your missing Divination. If Professor Vates makes one more comment on the chances of me going on a date with Lily Evans, I think I'll kill myself!"_

 _The boys roared with laughter and James wasn't pleased. He took his glasses off and rubbed his tired eyes. "This isn't funny. If Evans finds out... Merlin."_

 _"At least it's good entertainment," Sirius commented and Peter sniggered._

 _"Yeah, for you!" James accused. "I'm just lucky she decided to do Arithmancy instead of Divination."_

 _"I heard she started going out with Tobias Knighton from Ravenclaw," Peter said tactlessly and Sirius groaned. James's smile faded and Lily had the impression that his heart had somehow been chipped at._

 _"Wormtail, we weren't meant to tell him!"_

 _James coughed. "Er, why, why not?"_

 _"Because you're going to be unbearable until they break up," Sirius muttered looking out a window. Remus gave Peter an annoyed look and Peter just shrugged._

 _"You think they'll break up?"_

 _"I don't know, Prongs," Sirius said wearily._

 _"Well, we'll just have to slaughter Ravenclaw in the next match. Do you reckon Bones will let me spark fireworks in the air if we win."_

 _"Maybe. If the fireworks don't spell out, 'Go out with me, Evans?'" Sirius snorted and James frowned._

 _James was in sixth year in this memory. His hair was much shorter and Lily found it odd. His ears stuck out a bit and the messy arrangement of his hair sat odder than usual. He was sitting in the common room and Lily don't know how she knew but she knew it was because he was waiting for her._

 _Sixth year Lily walked out of the staircase that led to her dorm and waltz straight past James not even stealing him a glance whilst James just stared after her as though she was the sun. Present Lily's heart warmed._

 _"I can't keep doing this!" Allison Hopkins accused._

 _"Do what?" James retorted angrily. Lily assumed it was a little further into sixth year._

 _"I can't keep lying to myself and you shouldn't keep lying to yourself either. You love her."_

 _"Who?"_

 _"Oh, for the love of Merlin, James! Lily! Lily Evans! You're in love with her! It's so obvious. Your stupid mates keep making bets on when we'll break up because of her! And you just walk around lying to yourself and for a while I did too but enough is enough. We'll be talking and you'll just stop mid sentence to stare at her as she walks past and then you ask what I was saying. I can't do this anymore. We're over."_

 _"Ha! They broke up!" Sirius yelled. "Everyone owes me a galleon!"_

 _"Shut up, Padfoot, you git!" James barked._

 _"So who wants to bet how long it'll take for Evans and James to go on a date? Personally, I think next year."_

 _Allison rolled her peppery eyes and said, "See what I mean? You and Lily are destined for each other. Everyone knows it. You two just haven't caught up to it yet."_

 _"Ally," James said reproachfully._

 _"Deny it. Just try."_

 _"I don't love Evans."_

 _But he was looking at the floor and couldn't meet her eyes. Allison laughed softly. "It's okay. We had a good run. But now it's over. No need for screaming and crying. We had something, we tried, it died."_

 _"You should write a poem."_

 _"Git."_

 _"Can I still copy Charms homework off you then?"_

 _"We'll see."_

 _James sat in the corner of a library watching Lily and Severus fight in whispers. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he didn't know why she was wasting her time with him. He heard him and some other Slytherins talking about joining Voldemort when they finish and becoming Death Eaters. It was truly sickening. Lily deserved better than a bloke who thought of her as less just because she didn't have 'pure' blood._

 _James stuck his wand out and threw a hex at Severus that made his hair go wet and soapy. He thought it could use a wash. Lily stifled a small laugh and then looked around for the culprit. James fixed his eyes on the open book in front of him and pretended to be reading the whole time. Severus left Lily alone in the library. James stole a glance at Lily again and thought she looked good. She had trimmed her hair a little shorter and done something to her eyes, they looked greener and it was a beautiful green, the colour of an exotic leaf or an emerald._

 _The memory changed again. It was a memory from this year. James looked pretty much identical as he did in present time. He was talking with Lily during their patrol and she was offering to help him and they were acting like friends. Lily already knew what had been said and how but now she found out how James felt during that time._

 _Something was beating in his stomach and he felt so nervous and so worried that he'd say or do the wrong thing. He had to force himself to stop looking at her and when he was he had to force himself to look away. Then he started feeling annoyed. Annoyed that she didn't like him in that way and all of a sudden he was brought back to reality. He started being snappy towards her because when Lily was nice to him it was harder and when she was angry at him it became a little easier. He wanted to punch something._

 _"You love her, don't you?" Sirius asked. They were sitting in their dorm the morning James had carried Lily up to sleep in their dorm._

 _James looked at Lily, frightened she would hear but she slept like death._

 _"I – no – I don't know."_

 _"I think you do."_

 _"I thought I was over it, you know, during the holidays."_

 _"You always 'get over it' in the holidays."_

 _"I don't know why, but every time I look at her, I just never want to stop and I can't shake it. It's impossible to shake. And it's infuriating. I could be with anyone else, someone who actually wants to be with me but I just can't get her out of my mind."_

 _"I think she likes you."_

 _"Don't mock me."_

 _"I'm not!" Sirius defended. "I think she's starting to fancy you. I don't think she's realised though. She always asks about you and she, she cares and when you two start talking about something, it's impossible to make you stop. You guys, you flirt. I don't think it's intentional but it's there. I can see it."_

 _"Don't fuck with me, Padfoot. You say that and I think that we'll live happily ever after. Don't mess with me."_

 _"I'm just telling you what I see with my eyes."_

 _James looked at Lily and wished he would have forever to look at her. But he didn't so he had to make up for lost time. She whimpered in her dream and James frowned._

 _"Do you think she's having a nightmare?"_

 _"Oi!" Peter said poking his head in before Sirius could answer, "Let's go! You got me up at the crack of dawn. I want food at least."_

 _"Shit, I forgot the cloak!" James shouted._

 _"Moony, will hide it," Sirius said, "But we've got to get in the castle before Madam Pomfrey comes!"_

 _"What if Peter…?_

 _"No! Let's go! You can go back later this morning. Just not now!" Sirius commanded. He grabbed James's arm and pulled him further towards the castle. James seemed to agree and shook of Sirius's hand and started bolting to the castle._

 _"Who's going to come with me?"_

 _"Prongs I am so tired that I don't think I can ever move again," Sirius said and James rolled his eyes._

 _"I've that stupid essay to finish. You said you'd help."_

 _"I can't, Wormtail. I've got to get the cloak," James explained. "Padfoot, pass the map. If I can't have the cloak, I at least need the map."_

 _"Alright, alright."_

 _Sirius handed James a piece of old looking parchment. Lily had never seen it before. James tapped it with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," and writing and lines and dots appeared all over the map. Lily moved closer to James to peer over his shoulder at the map._

 _"Urgh, Evans is with Fortescue again in the greenhouse. What a truly horrible place to snog," James said and Lily went to whack him over the head but her hand just went straight through._

 _"Go get the cloak, you obsessed git."_

 _"Yeah, yeah. I'm going."_

 _James left the dorm and exited the common room. He headed for the closest exit to the Whomping Willow, checking the map regularly for teachers or nosy students. Before he left the castle he checked it again. Madam Pomfrey and Remus were in the hospital wing. Professor McGonagall was in her office. The only person he had to worry about was Professor Dumbledore who seemed to be roaming the castle for some unusual reason. James thought now or never and dashed to the tree. He quickly levitated a branch to press the knot and slipped into the passageway. He turned into a brilliant stag! His fur was short and a beautiful light brown with white circles around his eyes. His antlers were huge and a brilliant white colour. Lily didn't think she'd seen an animal so beautiful before. The stag ran down the passage way and somehow Lily managed to catch up to him, as though she were smoke being blown in that direction. When he neared the exit, he transformed back into himself. He slipped up into the dusty, dank room and grabbed something out from under a wardrobe, which had a very narrow gap between the floor and the wardrobe._

 _He slipped back into the tunnel and turned into a stag again, galloping down the passageway. At the end he turned back and threw the cloak over himself. He crept out and slipped back into the castle easily. He checked the map again and saw that a student named Mia Scott was in a bed near Remus with all the Heads of Houses and Professor Dumbledore there too. She must be extremely ill, James thought._

 _James went into a secret corridor and took the cloak off. He shoved it into his robe pocket, along with the map and made his way to the kitchens to grab a bite, but as he walked through the Entrance Hall he stopped at the sound of his name._

 _"Prongs!" Sirius called._

 _"I thought you were never going to move again," James said sourly at the sight of Sirius following Professor Slughorn along with their entire Potions class._

 _"There's been an attack on a muggle-born. She almost died. It happened this morning. Right outside Scrivens' office! Lucky too. She would've died if he hadn't performed that healing spell, you know the one where you say 'vulnera sanentur' three times."_

 _"Oh, yeah. Lucky. Is she going to be alright?"_

 _"I suppose. The teachers haven't really made a proper announcement."_

 _"When do they ever? Everyone just knows. Gossip gets around this school faster than you can say 'secret'."_

Lily broke the connection.


	12. Chapter 11: Secrets For Secrets

Lily stepped back and James took in her great big smile, spanning from ear to ear, her green eyes positively glowing with excitement and he felt something die inside of him. Because she was Lily and he was James. She was a pure ray of sunshine and he … well, he didn't know what he was. He knew he wasn't evil but he wasn't pure good either. He'd done things he'd regretted and there was Evans. Someone who'd never done a single wrong thing in her life and she was looking at him so happily because finally she had solid proof that he was innocent. She looked so pleased with herself and her smile was so happy that James couldn't help but smile too, even though he felt completely humiliated and apprehensive. He rubbed his palms on his school pants and looked around awkwardly. He really didn't know what would happen next and he never got around to asking Lily what he wanted to ask her.

"You're innocent! I knew you would be but this proves it! I mean I _know_ now! And you're an animagus! That's bloody brilliant! You have to show me and I get it now! The nicknames and, and the weird jokes you guys make! It, it all makes sense now!" and then she slapped him.

"Oi! What was that for?"

"Do you know how irresponsible that is? You could get hurt! Other people could get hurt!"

"You just said it was 'bloody brilliant'!"

"Yeah, because you're a freaking animagus!" she whisper shouted and then she gasped, "You're an illegal animagus, aren't you? Oh Merlin, an illegal animagus running around with a werewolf once a month in the Forbidden Forest. What could go wrong?"

James chuckled. "Less than you may think." He frowned. "Let's go acquit me then."

Lily frowned. "What?"

James looked at her like her brain had fallen out of her head. Perhaps it had or maybe it had been her heart that had fallen because she found herself crushed that he didn't ask her.

James was talking but Lily wasn't listening. Too caught up on why he hadn't asked her. Shame filled her as she realised that the boys were probably pulling a prank on her and she felt a hatred rise in her for Sirius Black because this had to have been his idea. How cruel to get one's hopes up just for the purpose of a few laughs?

"Evans, are you listening to me?"

"No."

James laughed, taking her bluntness as humour. "Let's go tell Dumbledore and that Pierce woman before she bribes anymore students to follow me.

"How do you know she gets people to follow you?" Lily asked.

"The map."

"The map. Right. How does that work exactly?"

"One day I'll show you."

Lily smiled slightly and James felt like he was finally doing something right. They crossed the hall and to find Professor McGonagall pacing her office worriedly whilst Dumbledore sat at a student's desk, an odd sight James had to admit.

"What on earth took so long?"

"James has a very full head Professor. But I found the memory eventually and I can vouch that he was in the Quidditch pitch change rooms on the morning of Scott's attack after practicing some flying. He skipped class to practice some flying."

James was impressed at how easily Lily lied to Professor McGonagall considering they hadn't even planned what to say but McGonagall bought it and sighed with relief.

"Finally! Proof! Now that Pierce woman can stop trying to get me to have you tracked, Potter. Though I can't say I am pleased with you missing class for Quidditch," she pursed her lips.

"Told you," James muttered to Lily who laughed weakly.

"Very well, you may go and celebrate I guess. I'll inform the rest of the staff and," she added as an after thought, "I want you two to be careful. Now that it's proven that you aren't the attacker, it means that there is a very dangerous student at our school."

"Professor," Lily said thoughtfully. "I've been, having, uh, dreams about, about that night."

Professor McGonagall became interested immediately and nodded for Lily to go on. James watched Lily interestedly too.

"I remember something. I think the spell that they used. I remember someone saying a spell but I've never heard of it before and, and it's not in any of the books in the library."

"What was the spell then?"

"Sectumsempra."

—

They had left McGonagall's classroom and were slowly walking back to the common room.

"Are you sure that was the spell?" James asked. He, like Lily, had never heard of the spell before.

"I'm sure," Lily insisted. "Sectumsempra. I'm sure of it. I didn't remember at first but Madam Pomfrey said that I might not remember the events straight away and the other night, I was dreaming and I just, I don't know, remembered. It's probably dark magic. Really powerful dark magic. I've still got a scar on my neck," Lily said and James went to look but realised she was wearing a skivvy and wondered if it was to hide the scar. She shouldn't. The person who did this to her should be able to see it and feel nothing but guilt for the physical pain they caused her.

"They'll catch them, Evans."

"I know, James but I just. Sometimes, I just feel, I don't know, unsafe."

"I'll keep you sa– wait did you just call me 'James'?"

"I think I've earned the right. You're parents names are Monty and Euphemia. You're nicknamed Prongs because you're an animagus in the form of a stag. You have an invisibility cloak and a mysterious map that tells you where everyone is and by the way I can't believe you spied on me and Andrew using the map!"

"Hey, I was looking for something and I happened to come across you two, in the green house and I just put two and two together. And really, Evans, the green house?"

"Don't judge," she defended, "It had nice scenery."

"Can I call you Lily now?"

"Hmm," Lily said thoughtfully. "I haven't decided."

"Oh sod off," he exclaimed and Lily laughed. "I don't care what you say. I'm calling you Lily from now on."

"But you don't even know my parents-"

"Rosie and Johnathan!"

"Sirius told!"

"Payback, Lily."

"I resent that," she said glumly and James just laughed and their shoulders brushed against each other and Lily moved away quickly.

"So, Lily. Considering you know a secret or two about me. I think it's only fair I get one back."

"No."

"No?"

Lily shrugged. "I did you a favour, James. I don't owe you anything." And despite knowing that she owed him a great deal more then what she'd given, she stuck by what she said because she had been played. Lily didn't like being played.

"If I tell, you get to stand up in the Great Hall and tell everyone that I turn into a stag."

Lily pretended to consider before saying, "Nice try, Potter. See you up in the common room." She ran off not giving James a chance to respond and when she got to the common room, she surprised the Marauders (and her own friends) by going straight up to the _girls'_ dormitory and locking herself in the bathroom, ignoring the party the Marauders had planned in the common room in honour of James' acquittal (despite the fact he'd never been charged in the first place).

—

James walked into the common room mere moments after Lily had stormed up to the girls' dormitory and he'd been rather confused of her behaviour. He'd thought they'd been making progress. Hell, he was planning on asking her on a date but he'd chickened out, the fear of rejection far too great. He wasn't a very good Gryffindor but perhaps others had been right in saying that bravery bordered on stupid — how many times could he be rejected by the same girl before asking her out crossed over to stupid instead of brave?

The common room smelt of alcohol, yet none was in sight, however the common room had the air of a party waiting to happen. James was familiar with the feeling. The biggest give away was the poster crafted by none other than Sirius Black himself. It read 'Congratulations, James! You're Not Going To Azkaban And Have Your Soul Sucked Out By Dementors!' James grinned and walked over to his mates, whom we're waiting eagerly to hear what happened.

"So?" Sirius prompted.

"I've a solid alibi." James shrugged. "Where's the alcohol at?"

"You're Head Boy," Remus remarked pointedly as Sirius handed him firewhiskey.

"Have been for two months now, Moony," James said opening the bottle of firewhiskey. "Thanks for letting me know, though." He took a swig.

"So what else happened?" Peter asked.

"Evans knows about Moony's furry little problem. She knows about our … you know and that's that."

"Why'd she run straight up to the girls' dormitory?"

James paused and then pressed the bottle to his lips, taking a swig the gold liquid burning his throat on the way down. "She went to the girls' dormitory?"

"Yes, did you ask her out?" Remus winced.

"I didn't actually."

"You what?" Sirius spluttered.

"I chickened out," James sighed, "And yes, I know, we're supposed to be brave and what not but I have asked her out no less then six times-"

"Five," Peter corrected.

"What?" James asked and realised that according to the rest of the Marauders the singular occasion in which James asked out Lily — which, in turn, led to Lily breaking off whatever arrangement they'd had between them — never happened. "Right. Yes, five," James agreed hastily before continuing, "At what point do I just sit back and realise that she doesn't see me in that way? Maybe friends is all we're meant to be."

Remus and Sirius glanced at each other. Sirius stepped forward placing a hand on James's shoulder and looking at him sternly in the eye. "Mate, you cannot give up on Lily Evans. She's your _one_."

"My one?" James echoed.

"Yes!" Sirius said impatiently, "Your _one_!"

"Your soulmate," Peter added.

"Life partner," Remus chimed.

"Frankly, I'd be rather miffed if you ended up marrying anyone other than Lily Evans."

James raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "Let me get this straight." He paused, pressing his palms together. "You want me to humiliate myself in front of Lily Evans for the _sixth_ time so you don't end up 'miffed'?"

Sirius considered and then shrugged. "Yeah."

"And because she's your one," Peter added.

"Can't forget that."

"Right," James said, "Of course."

"Are you going to go ask her?" Sirius prompted.

"No."

"Well, why not?"

"Because I am thoroughly convinced that you lot have lost your damn minds," James admitted, "And I'd much rather celebrate the fact that I am no longer an accused man of attempted murder and I'd like to do that by getting shit faced. So if you'll excuse me," he raised his bottle and said, "Cheers," but Sirius snatched the bottle out of his hand. "Padfoot."

"Before anyone get's shit faced you've gotta owl your mum."

"Right," James realised, "Good call."

—

Marlene raised an eyebrow and Ella had to admit she was quite intrigued as well. For the first time in several days, the Marauders were not hanging out with Lily and for the first time in several days, Lily had gone up to the girl dormitories.

"Do you think something's wrong?" Marlene asked anxiously.

Ella rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Potter and Lily just went through their first fight as a couple."

"But what if it's not?"

"We're ignoring Lily, remember?"

"Yes, I know," Marlene frowned, "But what if something's wrong? Like really wrong? We're still her friends."

"And she's treated as like shit for the last two weeks."

"Ella."

"Marlene."

Marlene huffed and crossed her arms. "I still think we should go see if she's okay."

"Then go."

"Well, I can't go if _you_ don't want to go."

"That makes no sense. Go if you want to go."

"Oi, Dearborn, Adams!" Black shouted from across the common room, jumping up from his seat and coming over to the girls. Marlene and Ella shared a confused glance.

"What is it, Black?"

"What's up with Evans?" he asked sitting in the spare seat at their table.

"You tell us. You guys are her new BFFs."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "And you girls are shitty friends. Can one of you tell her to come down here?"

"Nope," Ella shrugged.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to."

Sirius snorted. "Wow, you guys really are shitty friends." Sirius fished a piece of parchment out of his pocket and handed it to Marlene. "Give that to Lily, will you? She'll know what to do with it. Tell her twelve a.m."

Marlene went to unfold it but Sirius waved a hand, "Don't bother, Adams. It will only insult you. Just give it to Lily and if you can bear it, tell her I said thank you."

"Thank you for what?"

"She'll know. Laters." With that Sirius jumped up and crossed the common room to sit with the rest of the Marauders again. Marlene stared at him curiously.

"You're staring."

"Maybe Lily has a secret relationship with Black."

"Nice joke."

"I'm being serious. I mean, why is he so concerned about her? Sirius Black doesn't care about anybody apart from the Marauders."

"Marls, you read into things too much," Ella rolled her eyes. "Go give Lily the stupid parchment and then come back down because I just finished my essay and I plan to get insanely drunk and I need you to stop me from doing anything stupid."

"Like declare your love for Michael Putley."

"Sod off. He's an ass, remember?"

Marlene nodded, "Right. I guess, I'll be back in a minute. Where's Alice and Della?"

"Della is off with Tommy and Alice is I don't know where."

Marlene nodded and disappeared up the stairs leaving Ella alone. That's when Sirius Black occupied the empty seat again.

"You know," he said, sliding a drink over to her, "If you want to be with Putley, you should just go out with him."

"Why're you always around Black?"

Sirius shrugged, "Does it bother you?"

"Yes," she said immediately and then she slouched, "maybe … I don't know. So why has Lily been hanging out with you lot so much?"

Sirius shrugged, "Ask her."

"We're not talking to Lily."

"That seems harsh."

"She ignored us to snog Potter in a broom closet."

"Now _that's_ insulting. They're not snogging."

"Oh, shagging - whatever you get what I mean! They're together," Ella snapped.

"They aren't actually."

This took Ella by surprise. She'd been so sure that Lily and Potter had finally gotten together. "So then why has she been hanging out with you lot?"

"Ask her."

"Why would she tell us now?"

"Because she can."

"And she couldn't before?"

"No."

"Oi! Padfoot! You coming?" James shouted, coming over to Sirius and Ella with Remus and Peter a step behind.

"Where are you lot off to?" Ella asked. It was just like the Marauders to bail on a party they planned.

"I'm a free man now, Dearborn," James winked.

"I noticed. Still doesn't answer my question."

"Let's go," Sirius said abruptly.

"What's the rush?"

"Want to be back before midnight."

James raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Let's go then." The Marauders left Ella alone only for Marlene to re-occupy her seat.

"What did they want?"

"Nothing," Ella shrugged. "How'd it go?"

"She had the curtains drawn around her bed … Ella, I think she was crying. I left the parchment on her bedside table with a note."

"What the hell has been happening these past two weeks?" Ella wondered out loud, the curiosity burning her.

—

Adaline floated back into the common room, humming slightly under her breath. A fact that deeply shocked Marlene Adams who demanded to know everything.

"Okay what happened?"

Adaline shrugged. "Tommy asked me to be his girlfriend."

"And?" Marlene urged, nudging Ella.

"I said yes."

"Seriously!" she squealed. "Ella! Did you hear? Della has a boyfriend!"

Ella looked up from beer pong long enough for an unenthusiastic, "Hooray," before turning back to the game.

Adaline frowned. She'd thought that her first boyfriend in a long time would be more interesting than beer pong but that was Ella, Adaline supposed. Marlene was enthusiastic enough for the entire Gryffindor common room urging Adaline to sit down and tell her everything. There wasn't much to tell though. They had gone on five dates and she found that she liked Thomas and he must've liked spending time with her because he asked her to be his girlfriend. It wasn't very romantic, well Thomas was Adaline was just hard pressed to admit that she liked romantic things but there was something.

At some point over the course of their unofficial dating, Adaline found she sought out his company more and more often. She liked having lunch with him in the Great Hall. She liked their study dates in the library. He was sweet and always went the extra mile for her — even if Adaline was a little oblivious to it in the moment. And he had been adorable asking her to be his girlfriend, stuttering slightly before just blurting it out. Adaline had said yes without even thinking about it.

"Well, fancy that. Adaline Bennett has a boyfriend," Marlene sung. "And I'd just like to say from the bottom of my heart that I told you so."

"Don't make me regret it," Adaline huffed. "Anyways, I'm buggered. I'm going up to bed."

"Fair warning, Lily's in her bed and I think she's crying."

"Lily's in the dorm?" Adaline asked surprised.

Marlene nodded. "We were shocked too."

"Black says that her and Potter aren't shagging," Ella chimed.

"Why's she crying?" Adaline asked concerned.

"Hell if I know," Marlene shrugged. "Though I now suspect that she is in a secret relationship with Black."

Adaline laughed throwing her head back. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Marls!"

"That's what I said," Ella agreed.

"He left her a piece of parchment which had some sort of secret message on it." Marlene crossed her arms. "I'm not crazy."

"Maybe you should stick to worrying about Nate because you've gone bonkers," Adaline informed her. "I'll see you upstairs!" she told them, heading up the dormitory stairs and into the dorm.

The curtains weren't closed around Lily's bed though, she was holding a piece of parchment, studying it and muttered, "What are they up to?"

"Lily?" Adaline asked unsurely.

Lily flinched and slipped her feet into her shoes. "Gotta go."

"It's passed curfew!" Adaline called after her but Lily didn't hear a word as she fled down the stairs.

—

Lily fumbled with the map as she tapped it with her wand and words and markings spread across it. Biting her lip she studied it closely looking for the four boys the map belonged to and she frowned when she spotted three of the four in the boys dormitory so she started there first.

She entered and the boys looked at her surprised. "What are you doing here?" Sirius asked her.

She rose an eyebrow. "You said twelve? Though I don't know why I needed a map to find you in the boys dormitory."

"You're meant to find James," Peter inputted.

"Right so I can be made a fool of again. No thank you," she told them leaving the map at the end of Sirius' bed.

"Ah, I knew you were pissed at us — look it's not our fault James chickened out," Sirius said.

"Though I thought you'd be relieved," Remus admitted. "I thought you didn't want him to ask you out."

She didn't. Did she?

"I never thought I'd see the day," Sirius breathed. "You actually like him!"

"Shut up," Lily said weakly. How on earth had she gotten here? She'd meant to help Potter not get a silly little crush on him! For god's sake she'd resisted when they'd been snogging for a month, she didn't know how this had happened but she was angry not because she'd been played like she'd thought but because James hadn't asked her.

"Find him," Peter suggested, handing the map back to her.

"What if he's over me?" she asked quietly thinking about all the times she'd turned him down. Thinking about all the times she'd used his feelings to her advantage.

Remus snorted. "That's like saying Sirius will shave his hair off. Find him."

Lily glanced at the map and saw a dot labelled with his name pacing in Great Hall, all alone in such a big room and before she could stop herself she left using the map to get her to the Great Hall without being detected. She paused at the doors, the size of everything intimidating her.

Was this how he felt every time he'd tried to ask her out? God she hoped not.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

—

"Ask me."

James whirled around, the voice catching him off guard, the person shocking him to his core so that he couldn't think for a hole thirty seconds. "What?"

"Ask me what you wanted to ask me today."

He hadn't wanted to ask her anything, he thought foolishly before realisation dawned. "I'm going to kill them," he said simply and then he said abashedly, "Look, you don't have to worry about that … we're friends."

She stepped closer and James stiffened as her summery scent hit him with full force, her eyes inflating as she looked at him. "Ask me," she repeated.

James turned away from her scared he'd do just as she asked if he kept looking at her large eyes any longer. "We both know how this ends, Evans. Why're you here? I get it. You're not interested and I didn't ask because I think it's finally sinked in but I can't help it if Sirius can't keep his mouth shut. Doesn't mean you get to demand for me to ask you just so you can turn me down."

Her hand landed on his arm and he breathed in deeply. "James," she said softly. He turned around to face her. Her expression was soft, her plump lips in an almost smile, her eyes wide, her body relaxed. She did something unexpected next. She reached up on the balls of her feet, bringing him down by his collar and planted her lips on his and it was like she was breathing life into him again. She pulled away far too soon. "Ask me, please."

James' mouth popped open in a little 'o'. She wanted him to ask so she could say yes. That was new and he almost wanted to throw himself off the Astronomy Tower because of course the only time he'd decided not to ask was the time she'd wanted him too.

"Go out with me, Evans?" he asked a little breathlessly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Even if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid," she said with a hint of a smirk.

She leaned up once more but he turned his face. "Nope," he declined.

"What? Why?"

"If we're gonna date we're gonna do it properly. No kissing until the first date."

"But we've already snogged … multiple times," Lily pointed out like he was stupid.

"No snogging until the first date," James said firmly. "But I do believe you owe me a secret."

"Hmm, I suppose I do," she smiled, removing her arms from around his neck and linking her arm with his. They walked out of the Great Hall, and she let the silence occupy them for a time and James didn't push, she liked that about him, until she gathered the courage to share her secret.

"My dad, he'll be dead by the end of the year and no one knows but me."

James stopped walking out of shock and Lily turned to face him but she wouldn't look him in the eye. She had finally told someone. She'd been hiding it since the beginning of summer and she finally told someone. When Lily had found out she'd been furious. She had answered the phone and it was his doctor. He informed Lily that her father was refusing treatment. Yes, she'd been furious.

"What?" James asked with a wobbly lip. He didn't know what to expect but it certainly hadn't been that. "How? Why?"

"He's gotten sick. He's ill. Cancer, in, in his head. He found out a couple of months ago and the doctors said that the, the cancer is too far along to stop and because of the place it's in they can't remove it. He's going to die and nothing can help him and I'm going to be stuck here and I don't want to be stuck here while he's dying and yesterday mum sent an owl saying Petunia's engaged and getting married after New Years and then dad sent an owl saying that if he dies he still wants Petunia to get married as planned, at the beginning of January and I don't, I don't know what to do."

James watched as tears began to form in her eyes and listened as her voice became more and more panicked.

"And mum is all happy and meanwhile I'm dying on the inside and dad is actually dying and Petunia doesn't even talk to me, the prejudice little tart! And dad's dying!" her voice had become loud and panicked and James just went on instinct. He wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest, tears wetting his shirt.

"Shh, shh, shh," he whispered. "It's going to be alright. At first it won't be, but after a while it still won't be but it'll start to feel all right again and you'll remember how it feels to laugh and smile and joke and have fun and it'll feel all right again even if it's not. Eventually, it will feel all right again."

Lily nodded against his chest but she was still crying and James couldn't even imagine the way she must feel right now. To know her dad was dying and being powerless to stop it. It would completely suck. So James just held her for as long as she needed in that deserted corridor on the fifth floor until she pulled back.

She didn't wipe her tears away and he didn't like seeing her upset so he cupped her face with his hands and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. She chuckled slyly and James smiled half heartedly.

"I'm such a bloody mess. This was meant to be some romantic walk and I've completely ruined it by blubbering on about my dad. I'm sorry."

James shook his head, "No, no you haven't. You've made it even more special."

"How?"

"I don't know, I just feel like that for the first time we fully and completely trust each other and that's not really something I had from you, even from before summer and now I know a secret of yours and you know way more about me than you should and I trust you and I feel like you trust me and that's, I don't know, beautiful."

"Do you write poetry or something?"

"I think that's enough secrets for one day," James said taking his hands off of Lily's face and continuing to walk. Lily smiled as she saw James blush.

"Oh my, God! You do! You have to let me read it! Does Sirius know?"

James whirled around.

"You can't tell him!"

Lily started roaring with laughter and James was finding it harder and harder not to crack a smile.

"Oh, this is _gold_!" Lily laughed.

"I don't write it! I just read it!"

"Sure you do. Don't worry. One day I'll get my hands on it."

James shook his head and laughed. They reached the portrait hole and Lily sighed.

"What now?" James asked. Lily shrugged.

"My friends hate me."

"You can hang out with me. Still gonna stay in our dorm?"

"Are you sure?"

"Believe me, I don't mind," James said smirking but Lily whacked his arm with an unamused expression on her face. "Ow!" he exclaimed and Lily nodded approvingly.

—

Lily had never been so nervous for a Hogsmeade trip in her life. Not even when she was going on her first date with Andrew and maybe that was one of the problems she had with Andrew. She didn't feel enough with him. Being with Andrew felt like being with a friend only with kissing and even that wasn't so great.

The boys left before her as usual and James had written a note telling Lily to be ready at ten o'clock and to wait in the dormitory for him. She found that odd, it made more sense to meet in the Entrance Hall. Nevertheless she got ready. She decided to wear mainly muggle clothes; jeans, a knitted jumper and a heavy coat. She knotted her hair in a low bun and then sat in the bathroom with a small make up bag. Make-up or no make-up was the question haunting her at the moment. She brought out mascara and applied a little to her lashes and then put some lip-gloss on. She looked in the mirror tilting her head in different angles and concluded that it should do.

Lily checked the time and saw it was still fifteen minutes until ten o'clock and pulled out a Charms essay she still hadn't finished.

She completely forgot about the time, immersed in the essay, until a knock sounded at the door. Lily's stomach jolted. She jumped up, quickly packing away her school stuff and opened the door. James looked handsome. He too was wearing muggle clothes, jeans and a thick jumper and a Gryffindor scarf wrapped around his neck. He was holding a bouquet of peonies and Lily wondered where on earth he had gotten peonies from.

"Hi," he said and Lily smiled.

"Hi."

"Shall we go then? You look gorgeous, by the way."

"You don't look so bad yourself," Lily said taking the flowers off of James and smelling them, "Mmm, my favourite."

"I know, Marie."

"Oh, I had forgotten about that nickname," Lily frowned. She wasn't sure she liked it and James laughed. Lily left the flowers on her nightstand before looping her arm around James's and he lead her out of the castle and into the grounds.

"How would you feel about not going to Hogsmeade today?" James asked and Lily shrugged.

"Is there something wrong with Hogsmeade?"

"I've a surprise for you," he said and he held up a blindfold. "I'm gonna need you to wear this."

"Seriously?" she asked doubtfully and James nodded.

"Come on, just go with it."

Lily sighed, wondering what she was getting herself into and James smiled and went behind her to fasten the blindfold around her eyes. He took her hand and started leading her somewhere.

"James, if you make me smash into a tree or something, I'll hex you."

"Yes, ma'm."

They were silent for a few minutes until James opened a door, grabbed something and then closed the door again.

"Okay, I really need you to trust me now. I need you to get on the broom."

"Broom? James! I'm blindfolded!"

"That's why I'll be the one flying. You're just the passenger. Here," James said. He got on the broom himself and placed one of Lily's hands on his shoulder and the other on the broom handle. "Now you just have to get on."

"If I die. I'll haunt your arse to the grave."

"Noted."

Lily fumbled a little but managed to get on the broom behind James and out of fear of falling off, wrapped her arms around James's torso. James kicked off and they were flying. Lily was praying that she wouldn't fall off and even though she knew James was an accomplished flier and Quidditch player she was still terrified and despite being blindfolded, she kept her eyes shut tight. It had been a couple of minutes when James finally landed again and Lily had no idea where she was and had no sense of direction. All she knew was that the air was noticeably cooler.

—

Sirius Black was, for perhaps the first time ever, despondent as he sat over his butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks.

"Trust Prongs to have his date in the one spot we can't spy on him," he whined for the billionth time.

Remus patted his arm, "There, there."

"I'd never do that to you, Padfoot," Peter vowed.

"You'd need a date first," Sirius remarked.

Remus leaned forward on the table. "Say, what's the deal with you and Dearborn lately?"

"Dearborn?" Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "What about her?

"She's staring at you," Peter noticed and Sirius glanced over to the table Ella Dearborn sat at with Adams and Vance.

"So she is," Sirius agreed shrugging. "Probably trying to figure out where James and Lily are. You know they think she's been shagging Prongs this whole time."

"Lily won't be pleased with that," Remus noted. "Did you set them straight?"

"'Course. We can't have people thinking that James could actually score Lily Evans."

"But he did," Peter pointed out.

"Because of my meddling," Sirius assured him.

Sirius glanced over at Dearborn who was now rolling her eyes, as she often was, at Adams who seemed to be on a spirited rant about something or other, with Adams it could have been anything. He once heard her rattle on about how screws were useless in a magical world for twenty minutes before Dearborn had gotten fed up and shot a silencing charm at her. Come to think of it, Sirius thought that that perfectly described the friendship between Dearborn and Adams. Where Adams was sunshine and rainbows, Dearborn was clouds and rain and yet somehow they remained friends, best friends even, after all these years.

Dearborn caught his eye and for a moment they were stuck in some trance before she got up and came over to their table.

"I thought associating us was a punishable offence in girl world," Sirius commented.

"You were staring at me."

"You were staring at me," Sirius countered. "You weren't talking about my irresistible charms were you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're about as charming as a threstral."

"I've always wanted to have something in common with a threstral."

"You're incorrigible," she declared. "Where's Lily?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't but Della's looking for her so if you know where she is, it would save Della from wasting her time."

"Tell Della she's at the North Tower."

"But-"

Sirius kicked Peter's shin and he fell silent.

"I would say thank you but," she shrugged and walked off and then Remus rounded on him. "That is what I'm talking about when I ask what is going on with you and Dearborn?"

"It's called a conversation, Moony."

"Is no one going to mention the flirting?" Peter asked.

"It was implied, Wormtail."

"There was no flirting," Sirius countered. "Besides, is flirting such an odd characteristic for me? I mean, I'd probably flirt with Voldemort if I met him."

"That," Remus struggled for a minute, "Is disturbing."

"Would I really be living if I didn't compliment Voldemort's look when I met him?"

"You'd certainly be able to live longer," muttered Remus.

—

"You can get off now," James murmured and Lily laughed shakily. She let go of James and fumbled off the broomstick, her foot getting caught a little and she thought she was going to fall but James grabbed her arm firmly to stop her from hitting the floor.

"You ready to see the surprise?"

Lily nodded eagerly and James pulled off her blindfold gently and Lily was amazed. The view was spectacular. The Forbidden Forest stretched out forever and Hogsmeade seemed tiny in comparison with it's snow covered house roofs. Snow peaked mountains and rocky caves popped out of the distance and Lily took it all in.

"This, this is amazing!" she breathed.

"I know."

"Where are we?"

"On top of the North Tower. We flew around this morning from tower to tower to find the best view," James said, Lily looked at him amazed and James said, "What? You said you liked scenery," and Lily laughed amazed at the lengths this boy was willing to go for her.

"This is — you are amazing!" Lily informed him and James smiled. "Wait how are we standing?" Lily looked around and saw she was standing on a wooden platform. "Did you make this?"

"Remus's idea, always the practical one," James shrugged. "It does make it more comfortable though, doesn't it?"

"Huh, yeah."

"Well, my lady," he said gesturing to a spread out picnic blanket with a basket sitting on top of it, "Shall we? I've brought Butterbeer, Rosemerta's finest, and the house elves made us some sandwiches and chocolate cake with chocolate dipped strawberries."

"This was all very thought out," Lily complimented as she sat down on the blanket. James sat opposite her crossed legged and grabbed a folded up blanket. He spread it across them so they covered their legs.

"If you want another, there's some more in the basket."

James conjured up some special blue flames and the heat reached Lily immediately. Lily was torn between watching James and enjoying the scenery. James won. She watched as he pulled out two golden goblets and the bottles of Butterbeer and the sandwiches from the basket. He set it out next to them, pouring Lily some Butterbeer and handing her the goblet.

"You know," Lily said as she finally realised just how high up they were. "I'm starting to think you arranged this so I couldn't run away even if I wanted to."

"Damn, you caught me," James smirked and Lily laughed. "Any progress with the friends?"

Lily looked down sadly, "No. They hate me."

"No one could ever hate you, Marie."

"They can."

"They don't. But they are poop heads for not understanding."

"Very mature. Are you ready for the match next week?" Lily asked eyeing his broomstick. "It's against Slytherin, right?"

"Yeah, should be good. Podmore is great on the field. Can catch anything and everything. Nikki is doing great as keeper, never misses. The new beaters work well together and I think we've got all the plays down. I'm feeling like we'll win but I don't want to jinx anything."

"I'm sure we'll win. Gryffindor usually does."

"We'll see," James said modestly. "Which Quidditch team do you go for?"  
Lily looked at James unsurely. "Uh, Gryffindor. I thought that would be pretty obvious."

"I meant outside of school," James said and he tried not to laugh as Lily's cheeks went slightly red.

"I don't follow Quidditch outside of school."

James's mouth dropped open and he seemed to be in a daze. "Nevermind, it's okay. We can fix that. From now on you go for Puddlemere United."

"Do I now?" Lily challenged.

"If you want another glorious date like this you do."

"And if I don't?"

"Well then you should at least go for Puddlemere United because they are awesome and not following them should be a shame to this world."

"You're too invested in Quidditch," Lily commented. "Me? I like football. Manchester United all the way."

"Football, isn't that some sort of boring muggle sport?"

Lily sighed, "I'll take you to a game someday," she promised.

"Only if I can take you to a Quidditch match!"

"Deal."

"But for the record I would rather throw myself off of this roof than watch a boring old muggle sport."

"You'll be eating your words," Lily promised. "Football is the Quidditch of England."

"Hey can you hear something?"

"What could you possibly be hearing we are on top of a castle?"

"I can hear the sound of utter bullshit coming out of your mouth."

Lily's jaw dropped open and she whacked his arm. "Now, now, Marie. We wouldn't want to go flying off the roof now, would we?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind so much if you went flying off the roof," Lily teased and James shook his head.

"You're going to pay for that, Evans." And within a second he was tickling Lily so much that she could barely breathe.

"Stop! Stop!" she said through laughter but James didn't.

"Say, "James Potter is the best human being on the planet and deserves to live forever". Say it and I'll stop tickling."

"Never!" Lily shouted still giggling uncontrollably.

"Say it!" he demanded playfully tickling her even more and Lily squealed even louder and thrashed about under him. She tried to push his hands away but he was much stronger than she'd ever be and all she could think was that he needed to stop before the laughing killed her.

"Okay! Okay! James Potter is the best human on the planet and deserves to live forever!" she said in one breath. James stopped tickling her and Lily lifted herself into an upright position again as James sat back down on his spot. "But there's this guy on Mars that should live longer than you."

"Ha, ha. Very funny. There aren't any people on Mars, Lily."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Good one. You should be a lawyer," Lily snorted and James shook his head with a laugh.

"Don't make me tickle you again."

"I will hex you!" she threatened.

"Not if you're laughing too much."

"Then I will kick you off of this tower!"

"Hey, no need to make fatal threats. You cold at all?"

"No, all that laughing and thrashing about made me quite warm."

"Well, I'm cold. Come warm me up?" he asked holding up the blanket. Lily rolled her eyes with a smile and said, "Come here you goof."

She shuffled over and James moved next to her spreading the blanket across their legs. They sat close so their shoulders were pressed up against each other and so were their outstretched legs but that was all.

Lily sighed, "My mum is starting to get suspicious about dad."

"What happened?"

"Apparently dad is taking really long naps and his head always hurts, he has brain cancer you see. He hasn't said anything but I think his vision is starting to get effected, mum's said that he's been reading things wrong and bumping into a lot of things. Putting the glasses in the wrong cupboard that sort of stuff."

"He'll be all right."

"No, he won't and that's what sucks. He won't be all right. He will die and he'll be gone and, and I'll be here. Do you think McGonagall will let me go home for the funeral?"

"I'm sure she will."

"Do you think she'll let someone come with me? I don't think I can handle going on my own. To be absolutely stuck in my house with my mum and the magic-hater Petunia."

"Possibly. Did you want someone to come with you?"

"It doesn't even matter. All my friends hate me anyways."

"I'll come with you, if you want," James said with a shrug and Lily leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Always the gentleman. Well almost always."

"I think that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me, Marie."

Lily laughed before quieting down. "How did things become so messed up?"

"I asked my dad about the meeting we saw him at."

Lily leaned up to look at James surprised.

"What did he say?"

"He said I shouldn't be sneaking around after hours 'cause it's not safe and that it's nothing to worry about."

"Bullocks," Lily retorted. "I hate it when adults think we can't handle the truth. We can and we deserve to know it."

"I think they just believe in all that 'ignorance is bliss' crap. Ignorance is only bliss until you find out what a dim witted moron you'd been."

"That's why my dad told me about his cancer, well came clean after I'd busted him. He just sighed and said, 'if I don't tell you now you'll hate me for keeping it from you'."

"I wish my parents were like that. My mum and dad try to keep everything from me. You know my mother doesn't send me the M.A.E newsletters?"

"Why?"

"She doesn't want me to see what's happening, how our world is deteriorating but she says it's because she can just tell me in her personal letters to me," James rolled his eyes, "She never even mentions M.A.E in her letters."

"She's you mum, she wants to protect you I guess."

"It's annoying."

"Until they aren't there to protect us anymore," Lily said thinking of her dad.

"Until they aren't there to protect us anymore," agreed James. Lily leaned her head on his shoulder again and he instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they leaned back against the roof tiles of the tower. They pulled the blanket up and looked at the scenery, the trees swaying, the smoke coming out of chimneys and the ant-looking people walking around.

"James?"

"Hmm?"

"This is a really nice date. I can honestly say I've never had one like it."

"Glad you like it. I can honestly say I've never organised a date like this before."

"You know what would make it perfect?" Lily asked looking at James who was looking at Lily with wonder-filled eyes and before Lily could answer her own question James closed the gap between them and they're lips were kissing. Lily's hand rested on his cheek, softly brushing against the slight stubble on his cheek and James's arm around her shoulders tightened to pull her closer. He hugged her tight before pulling away and asking, "This?"

Lily full of wonder and daze and questions breathed, "Yes."

"I-"

"Shh," Lily said moving her hand lightly over his lips. "Say it again when you think I'm in love with you too because, James Potter, I think I'm falling for you."

"All right then, I'll just say you look really beautiful today."

Lily smiled and blushed looking down slightly. James tilted her head back up from her chin and kissed her again.

"You don't mind waiting for me to catch up?" Lily asked resting her head on his forehead.

"Take all the time you need, love. In the meantime, how about a date next Sunday?"

Lily smiled and kissed him again, "I would love that."

Author's Note: Updates may be further apart now because even though I've written most of this fic, I have to edit and redo or add things to some chapters from this point on. I hope you guys enjoy and again thank you for all your favs, follows and reviews.

-Natalie xx


	13. Chapter 12: Cabbage Patch

Lily had been limited to hanging around with Remus and Peter for the rest of the week after classes. James had booked the Quidditch pitch almost every night to practice for the game against Slytherin on the weekend. It was Thursday night and Lily was sitting with them in the common room playing Exploding Snap out of boredom.

Lily kept stealing glances at Alice, Ella, Marlene and Adaline. They were laughing loudly and sharing sweets and Lily wished she could still be a part of that.

"Do you think I should go and talk to them?" Lily asked Peter and Remus nervously.

"It's up to you, Lily," Remus said unhelpfully.

Peter shrugged, "If you want to you should."

"You know, you two really suck at giving advice."

"Well, look at it this way," Peter said. "If you go up either two things are going to happen. Either, they'll let you talk and you'll forgive them or they'll still hate you and you'll be even more unhappy."

"I think I preferred the sucky advice. But now I can tell them the truth. James doesn't mind and it doesn't effect anything now. The accusations have been dropped and do you think they'll understand?"

"I hope they do, Lily, I do but I really don't know," Remus said and Lily sighed frustrated. She wanted to make up with her friends, _needed_ to if she wanted to stop sleeping on transfigured couch cushions on the floor of the boys dormitory.

They played another couple of hands of Exploding Snap until Lily snapped and stalked over to the group but her anger died out half way there. The girls saw her and their smiles faded, giving Lily a hard stare and Lily breathed in sharply but kept walking over to them. She was going to stick to her choice.

"Hi," she said awkwardly.

"What do you want?" Ella asked coldly.

"I want to talk to you. It's been weeks."

Adaline and Alice glanced at each other as Marlene said, "So?"

"I know you're angry with me but I can explain everything now."

"Explain? You mean lie to us again?" Ella spat.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked confused.

"'There's nothing going on between Potter and I'," Alice imitated, "Next minute we see him giving you piggy back rides in the corridors and exchanging _kisses_ and you're sleeping in their dorm!"

Anger bubbled in Lily. "I'm sleeping in their dorm because you kicked me out of _my_ dorm! I didn't tell you about James because at the time there _was_ nothing happening between James and I! Don't you dare call me the liar and a bad friend when you guys have just completely shut me out!" Lily shouted trying to keep her eyes clear, "You've no idea what I've been dealing with these last couple of weeks and you only want to talk to me when it suits you! I'm trying to fix things! I let you, simmer down and I'm trying to explain why I had been distant back then but obviously you don't give a rats arse!"

Her eyes betrayed her. A tear fell.

"Lily," Adaline said reproachfully.

"No, just leave me alone. Did you ever consider the reason that I didn't tell you lot something was because I couldn't? That I wasn't allowed to tell you? Did you ever consider that _that_ was why I kept my distance, because it was too hard to be around you lot when I couldn't tell you what was happening? You are rotten friends, the lot of you!"

"Lily!" Adaline exclaimed again as Lily turned her back and started walking away from them.

"Leave me alone!" Lily shouted and she fled the common room. She heard Peter and Remus call after her but she ran. She didn't even know where she was running to until she ended up on the Astronomy Tower.

—

Adaline frowned, gathering her things as well.

"Why do you guys keep having to push her away?" she asked angrily. They'd all done shitty things in the past and just because Lily had kept something from them, they were ready to crucify her. "Her story matches up with Black and you can't tell me that Potter's exoneration had nothing to do with Lily."

"Della, come on," Ella rolled her eyes. "She completely dumped us for them," her head nodded sharply to Peter and Remus, "And she even had the gal to lie about it and to get Black to lie to us."

"That's not Lily," Adaline shook her head. "And she's right, we are rotten friends." She sung her bag onto her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked, standing up after her.

"To find Lily."

Adaline climbed out of the portrait hole and looked around. There was no way to tell which way she'd gone, so she started down thinking that maybe she'd gone to the library but the thing with such a large castle is that there were endless places she could be. An empty classroom, a bathroom, a broom closet, a stairwell, she could even be on the grounds somewhere. The options were endless but she searched.

She searched every girls' bathroom, she checked the library, she checked every door she passed and still there had been no sign of Lily. It was their fault that Lily was upset. Lily had tried to be honest with them best she could but the other's hadn't even wanted to hear her out now because they were jealous that they weren't the first to hear about James and Lily getting together. They had to hear about it from Polly Piggens of all people.

"Bennett?" Potter asked, Sirius next to him. "Curfews over, what are you doing?"

"Looking for Lily," she sighed.

"What do you mean?" James asked, worry etching every curve of his face.

Adaline quickly explained the argument that had happened in the common room almost an hour previously and James was off the moment she finished pulling a map out of his robes.

"He worries about her," Sirius sighed as a way of explanation. "They still haven't caught the real attacker."

"How's he going to find her?" Adaline asked staring down the corridor James had just disappeared from.

"He will," Sirius assured her. "Come on. We should get back."

Adaline nodded and they started walking towards the Gryffindor Tower. A silent walk with Sirius Black was perhaps the most awkward thing that Adaline had ever endured. She'd never actually witnessed Black staying so quiet for so long. He was always the loudest one in the room.

Footsteps. Black pulled her into an empty alcove where they could blend into the shadows easily, his hand over her mouth to stop her from speaking. A group of adult wizards hurried down the corridor.

"We are so late, Fab," Emmeline Vance announced. "I knew we should have just apparated."

"Where's the fun in that?" Gideon Prewett replied.

"Being on time!" she chastised.

Adaline frowned. What could Alice's sister possibly be doing in the castle this late at night?

Their voices floated farther away and Black released Adaline. "Come on, let's go before we get caught," he whispered.

—

They'd cleaned away the Red Lake, it was all scrubbed spotless by Filch no doubt and all evidence of that night was gone. It was surprisingly easy to be in the place she'd been attacked. It didn't feel like the place she'd gotten attacked in, it just felt like the Astronomy Tower. It had a great view of the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's Hut with the sky forever expanding over her head until the stars met the horizon like lips met flesh. It was too beautiful to remind Lily of such a horrible experience.

She collapsed on the floor, crying and heaving for breath. She never knew how incredibly frustrating and maddening it was to have people not see your side of the story and it was starting to boil over. She had just had perhaps one of the best weeks of her life with James and all she wanted to do was tell her friends and they weren't there for her. She wanted to tell them things that girls told girls. Like how when James kissed she felt all fluttery and nervous and how he links his pinky with hers in the corridors because he doesn't want McGonagall to see and how he's a complete dork at heart. She wanted James to meet her friends and for her friends to tell him that if he ever hurt her they'd curse him to oblivion. She wanted girlfriends. Not Allison Hopkins who just wants to analyse the way James Potter kisses. Not Sirius who, whilst a rather good listener, could not see things the way a girl would. She wanted her friends. She wanted to have to sneak out to see James at night and not have Sirius make kissy noises whenever they lay on a bed together.

Lily was so angry and frustrated and the two emotions acted like a tag team. The angrier she got the more frustrated she got and the more frustrated she got the angrier she became. It was simply infuriating. She stood up and started pacing. Was it really too hard for her friends to just listen to what she had to say? Lily would've done it for them. She always listened and solved the problems. Maybe that's why this was taking so long to resolve, because Lily was always the one who fixed things. When Alice and Ella or Adaline had a fight, Lily would listen and help them sort it out. When Adaline was angry because Marlene and Alice drew Merlin's beard on the poster of the Appleby Arrows captain, Lily acted as the mediator and enchanted the drawing away and made Alice and Marlene apologise. But now, how was Lily supposed to fix this? They all hated her and then Lily got even angrier. Why did she have to pick such rotten friends, she thought even though she knew deep down that she wouldn't have it changed for anything in the world.

"You know," James said coming out of nowhere, "I get wanting to hide, but did you have to hide here?"

"How'd you find me?"

"Map." He held up the piece of old parchment and muttered, "Mischief managed."

The markings disappeared and Lily stared in wonder for a moment before saying, "Right. How was Quidditch practice then?"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Well obviously or else I wouldn't have asked," Lily said looking at James.

"Practice was good. How was your night?"

Lily sighed, "You know."

"I ran into Bennett on the way back from practice. She was looking for you. Do you want to talk about it?"

Lily sighed before letting out all of her frustrations and anger. James had never heard Lily rant for so long and whilst he hated the circumstances, he had to admit she looked cute whilst doing so. She became very animated when she was angry, waving her hands around and pulling different faces and acting out conversations that were completely ridiculous. When she finished James just said, "You're cute when you're mad, Marie."

Lily was taken by surprise so much that a laugh escaped her lips and a smile betrayed her mouth.

"This is why you're my boyfriend," Lily smiled and James smiled.

"I'm your boyfriend, am I?"

"Yep."

"And don't I get a say?" he asked placing his hands on Lily's small waist and pulling her closer.

"Nope," Lily said with a smile, "Because you make me smile even when I'm mad. So you're mine now." Lily looped her arms around James's neck. "Is that all right with you?"

"Sounds good to me, Evans."

"Good, because you don't get a say anyways, Potter."  
James chuckled and shook his head before bending down so his lips could reach hers. Once their lips met, his arms snaked further around her body and Lily's arms hugged James closer. Lily leaned on James's shoulder looking at the sky and said, "The stars are so pretty tonight," and James said, "If the stars are pretty, you're beautiful." Lily turned her head so her face was buried in his neck and pressed small soft kisses on his neck. James had never imagined a kiss could feel like floating on air.

—

James couldn't speak. He was stuck and paralysed. He had been temporarily petrified but he was conscious. He hadn't thought anything unusual would happen that night but that just proved how wrong he could be.

James lay, motionless and powerless, on the floor, hidden under the cloak as Snape kept slashing her with the mutter of a word, " _Sectumsempra_ ," and the slash of his wand. It was torture to watch. Snape with his long, greasy black hair and flapping robes, hurting Lily when James was right there. Lily kept shouting in pain as small cuts appeared all over her body and suddenly the Red Lake was back and Lily wasn't moving but Snape was still slashing her. Still hurting her. James was stuck and desperate to get to Lily.

"James!" someone whispered. "Get up, you git!" _I'm trying!_ "James!" the voice said again. "James. Shh, shh, shh. It's going to be all right." _How is it going to be alright when she's dead?_ For now, Lily was not moving at all. Her face had gone so white, James was sure it could never regain colour. Her chest wasn't moving. "James! Wake up!" and something pinched him.

His eyes opened for a start, only to be met with darkness. He felt a little sweaty and he was breathing heavily. James searched around for the blankets but they must've been kicked off because he couldn't find them.

"James?" Sirius asked and James snapped his head to the sound of the voice.

"Sirius? What's wrong?"

"You were muttering something in your sleep. Woke me up."

"Oh, stop acting all macho. Sirius was worried you were having a nightmare," Lily butted in coming out of the bathroom with a damp towel. "Here," Lily said handing it to him. James smiled crookedly and took it from her gratefully. He wiped his face and neck and felt a little refreshed.

"Where's Remus?"

"Patrol," Lily answered.

"What we're you dreaming about?" Sirius asked straight away.

"Sirius!" Lily scolded.

"What? It's a valid question. Bloody woke all of us up."

"Peter didn't wake up," Lily pointed out and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Wormtail could sleep through the apocalypse. Watch," and before Lily could say don't Sirius shouted loudly and clapped five times. James watched amused as Peter just rolled over and continued to sleep. "See?"

"Shut the bloody hell up," Brown groaned from his bed.

"You're a git," Lily told Sirius quietly as she rolled her eyes.  
"You're just annoyed 'cause I'm right."

"I'm annoyed because you're a git. And you're insensitive."

"To what? Prongs's feelings?" Sirius snorted and Lily glared at him hotly.

"Yes."

"I don't have _feelings_!" James defended.

"See?"

"Insensitive," Lily accused Sirius. "James is only saying that because guys have to act tough in front of other guys."

"We do not," they chorused together turning on Lily.

Lily raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, looking at James. "Fine then, James, what were you dreaming about?"

"I, uh, don't want to say," he admitted sheepishly.

"Because you're embarrassed right? See, that's a _feeling_!"

"Come on, Prongs, just spit it out."

"Don't push him, Sirius."  
"I'll do what I want."

"You really are insensitive!"

"I'm not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"  
"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Okay!" James shouted, "I dreamt that Lily was being attacked by Snape and I wasn't able to stop it." Lily and Sirius went silent and James felt really uncomfortable and he wished one of them would say something.

"You're still having dreams about that?" Sirius questioned and Lily nudged him and coughed, "Insensitive," to which Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You weren't there," Lily said to Sirius. "Leave him alone. Why did you dream of Snape though? Snape wouldn't hurt me."

Sirius and James glanced at each other. "It isn't impossible for Snape to attack you, Lils."

"But Snape wouldn't hurt me. We've been friends for years."

"You _used_ to be friends," Sirius pointed out quickly and Lily looked offended, for some reason the sound of someone saying it out loud made Lily feel a little weak in the stomach. "There's no telling what Snape would or wouldn't do."

"Lily's right," James said, "You are insensitive."

"Really now?"

"Yes."

"Right well, you, you're a moron."

James snorted, "Good one."

"I'm, er, going to go to bed." Lily stood up straight and James looked at her but she was avoiding his eye. He knew she was upset with Sirius's comment. He didn't know if it was just because they weren't friends anymore or if she felt disappointed in Snape that it's possible he could've attacked her, which James thinks is the truth. James kept seeing the dream in his mind and the more he thought of it, the more he felt like the attacker was Snape.

"You okay, Marie?" James asked getting out of his own bed and walking over to Lily as she climbed into her own bed. She just nodded. "Lily?"

"I'm fine, James. I promise."

"Do you mind if I lie down with you?" he asked because whatever the reasoning, Lily wasn't happy and James didn't like the idea of Lily not being happy. To James's relief, Lily shuffled over and James climbed into the bed after her, pulling the blankets up to their chins and then Lily pulled it over their heads so they were in their own little world.

"Do you have a lot of nightmares about that night?" Lily asked quietly. They lay on their sides, facing each other and their heads were barely an inch away from each other. Lily had one hand under her cheek, supporting her head and her knees bumped James's.

James nodded, "Sometimes."

"Oh James," she sighed and she traced his face lightly with her fingers, making his skin tingle. "I'm okay now. I promise."

"I know, but you weren't and the person who did that to you still hasn't been caught and I just can't help but think that it'll happen again to you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Lily promised but James didn't find any reassurance in that. It wasn't a promise she could really keep. She could drown in the Black Lake or fall down the stairs or be attacked or be eaten by a dragon.

"I'll make sure you won't," James whispered, grabbing Lily's hand and kissing it.

"You say that like you'd die for me," Lily whispered back. "You've got Quidditch tomorrow, you nervous for the game?"

"No."

"Good. You'll slaughter Slytherin and if you start to lose I'll hex the seeker."

"Would you mind getting the keeper too?" James asked and Lily laughed quietly.

"I'll see what I can do. Maybe I'll talk Remus into helping."

"Fat chance."

"We'll see."

"Goodnight, Lily."

"Goodnight, James."

"Well, it's about time!" retorted Sirius from outside their little world and Lily and James laughed.

"Goodnight Sirius!" they chorused, poking their heads out of the blanket.

"Just don't start to make any babies under there."

James just sighed and said, "You're a git, Padfoot."

"Yeah," Lily agreed, "You know we use the morning after potion."

"Wait! You guys have done it?"

"I guess you'll never know," James said, smirking at Lily. "'Night, Padfoot."

"But! You can't not tell me! I'm your best friend!"

"He also didn't tell you that he stole your teddy bear in first year and fed it to the Giant Squid trying to catch it," Lily said.

"Traitor!" James accused.

"You what!" Sirius shouted angrily.

"The squid wasn't supposed to eat it. It just kind of did and if it is any consolation the squid also took a stick from the floor that I'd grown a fond attachment to."

"That was my favourite teddy bear!"

"Yes, but Sirius, I noticed that when we hung around the lake and you brought your bear the squid would always come to us so I thought it'd be cool to catch the squid but the little bugger ate the damn thing and swam away, with my stick!"

"You know, I find it amusing how a man who believes he has no emotions is getting so emotional about a bear," Lily pointed out.

"I'm not emotional. I just happen to think Prongs is a bloody git. And a shit friend."

"Woah. Crossing a line, mate."

"You let the Giant Squid eat Miss Fairy! You looked with me for her! For a year!"

"Miss Fairy?" Lily asked holding back a laugh and failing. "You named a bear _Miss Fairy_?"

"Oh, shut up, Evans."

"No," Lily said covering her mouth to hide her giggles, "It's a very, uh, pretty name."

"Sod off."

"I swear to Merlin if you three don't shut up in the next three seconds I'm reporting Lily to McGonagall!" Brown threatened sitting up in his bed.

"We should get to sleep. You guys have the game tomorrow."

"Yeah well if Prongs hadn't woken us up with his _feelings_ we'd all still be asleep."

"Goodnight, Sirius."

"Goodnight."

—

Marlene was stewing. Nate had chosen to sit with Mia Scott instead of her for breakfast. They always sat together for breakfast even when he was dating Emma Price from Hufflepuff and they had dated for almost a year. It's not that she was opposed to Nate dating a fifth year Ravenclaw, it was just that she didn't quite understand what he saw in a fifth year Ravenclaw.

"You're staring," Ella declared.

"He didn't sit with us for breakfast," Marlene stated, not bothering to avert her gaze from the curly haired girl and her best friend who were laughing at something.

"About time."

"He's my friend, Ella."

Ella grabbed a piece of toast. "Yes, well right now, you're acting like a very jealous girlfriend or something."

Marlene scolded. "I am not. I am just offended that he didn't sit with us for breakfast like he usually does."

"Sure." She wagged her eyebrows. "Lily alert."

Marlene saw Lily walk in with the Marauders, James and Remus on either side of her as they talked.

"I am losing all my friends to other people," she huffed. First Lily, now Nate. "Who's next?" she wondered.

"You're being dramatic," Adaline took a seat opposite them. "Lily would still be our friend if we just gave her the benefit of the doubt."

"We've been over this, Della," Ella reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah," Adaline rolled her eyes before smiling when Tommy sat down next to her. "Hey, Tommy."

"Hey, Del," he said grabbing a plate.

"See? You haven't ditched us for your boyfriend," Marlene sighed.

Adaline rolled her eyes. "Nate hasn't ditched you. He's just eating breakfast with his girlfriend."

"She is _not_ his girlfriend," Marlene shook her head. "They've just gone on a few dates."

"You know if I didn't know any better, Marlene, I'd say you fancy McKinnon."

The three girls looked at each other before bursting out laughing. Marlene did not fancy Nate McKinnon in any way. That would be like fancying her brother. Her and Nate had grown up together, had even had baths together when they were two. She had taught Nate how to ride a bike and he'd taught her how to ride a broom. They were just friends. Best friends.

"Good try, Thomas but this is just the thing that Marlene does."

"The thing," Thomas repeated. "Right."

—

Next morning at the table, James was telling Sirius, Remus and Peter how Lily didn't see the big deal in Quidditch.

"What? She defended. "The first time I heard 'quidditch match' I thought they had said 'cabbage patch'."

"Cabbage patch?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know. The cabbage patch dolls."

"Dolls?" Peter asked. "Muggles name stuff weirdly."

"As opposed to 'Quidditch'?" Lily snorted.

"At least it's a good game."

"And cabbage patch is a good doll. I have one in my room."

"Really now?" Sirius asked taking Lily's piece of toast off her plate. "And what's her name?"

She took a piece of toast off of James's plate. " _I_ actually name things normally. Her name is Evie."

"Well, you better keep it away from Prongs. He'll feed it to the Giant Squid."

"You aren't still going on about that, are you?" James asked annoyed.

"It was a good bear!"

James rolled his eyes and Lily smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"When do you have to go down?" she asked.

"Soon. Maybe in ten minutes or so."

Lily nodded and hugged him from the side. "Don't get hit with a bludger or anything."

"Thanks."

"What's with the hugging?" Peter asked.

"Can't I hug my boyfriend?" Lily asked, still hugging James. She was rather tired and James was comfortable.

"No," Peter said. "You'll kill us with your affection."

"In that case," James said and he turned to face Lily, with his hand softly under her chin and kissed her and the three boys groaned with disgust.

"Do you two really have to snog in front of us?"

"When you get a steady girlfriend Padfoot, you'll be snogging her all the time so shut it," James said and Lily smiled.

"I don't think Sirius could deal with it. Not being able to snog who he wanted when he wanted."

"Hey! I shag, not snog."

"Oh, sorry, my apologies," Lily said sarcastically. "Sirius, you have permission to be hit by a bludger."

"I love you too, Lily."

"Don't you forget it."

"I won't," Sirius promised. "Who'll write my Potions essays other wise?"

Lily rolled her eyes and said, "I don't know. You always brag about your 'superior' brain. Why don't you give that a try?"

"It hurts too much from being too superior."

"Alright calm down. Let's not forget the actual mastermind in the group," James said, "Me."

"You?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow. "The guy who tried to catch a Giant Squid with a stick and a bear named Miss Fairy?"

"It was an ingenious plan. I just wasn't strong enough to rope it in."

"You could've used your wand," Remus pointed out.

"I was in first year. I didn't know the spell yet."

"And you want to be the mastermind," Sirius snorted.

"You don't even know a simple spell," Peter accused.

"Yeah! Even Wormtail knows it!"

"Yeah – hey!"

"I said I didn't know it back then not that I don't know it now!"

"I've an idea. Why don't all of you tell me your achievements and ideas, successes and failures and I'll judge who is the true mastermind?" Lily suggested.

"Done!" Remus said.

"But after the game," James said. "We've got to get going."

Lily kissed James's cheek before releasing him from the hug and sat back up normally. James and Sirius stood and James shouted down the table, "Quidditch team! Let's go!" another five people stood up and followed James out of the Great Hall with Nicolea Flawley with her arm around James's neck.

Nicolea Flawley was a beautiful girl. She had long curly hair that was as black as a starless night. Her eyes were a deep piercing blue and she had the face of an evil seductress. Beautiful, yet deadly.

"Shall we walk down then?" Peter suggested and Lily and Remus agreed.

"Lily, can I borrow your scarf?" Peter asked and Lily looked at him funny.

"Why?" Lily held onto the scarf with her hand. She hadn't worn a skivvy today.

"I've nothing Gryffindor on me. You've got your gloves and you're wearing a red jumper."

"Uh, but I'm, er, really cold," Lily lied unconvincingly.

"You can have mine, Wormtail," Remus said intervening and looked at Lily purposely. Lily looked away and pretended nothing was wrong.

They made their way to the stands and found themselves really good seats and settled down.

"So, you guys must have hilarious stories about James," Lily hinted casually.

"Well," Remus started, "There was that time that he tried to smuggle in a puppy. He got his cousin Isabella, to send it in. You see Isabella is a couple of years older than him but as equally mischievous, so she jumped on board immediately. She tried to send it through via owl but McGonagall came to investigate when a puppy ran down the Gryffindor table at breakfast."

"That was James!?" Lily asked surprised. No one had ever gotten the blame for the puppy incident of 1974.

"Yep."

"What about the time Prongs set Nifflers loose in Professor Nittles office?" Peter asked. Lily couldn't help but laugh. Professor Nittles was the D.A.D.A teacher from their fifth year. She was a bit of a psycho. She always wore sundresses, even when it was snowing and she would wear diamonds around her neck and on her hands. She would always make a big deal of it if a kid got hurt in any sort of way, whether it was a small jinx or a hex, one time she fainted when James hit Snape with the Leviacorpus spell. Her office was another thing all together. You see, Professor Nittles distrusted Gringotts, she had told the students many times.

"James and Sirius wanted to find her gold. It was quite hilarious. Professor Nittles went into shock when she found her autistic office ripped apart with a bunch of nifflers barrelling around in galleons."

"What kind of detention did he get?"

"He had to scrub the owlery spotless."

Lily scrunched up her nose. "That's disgusting."

"Look! They're walking out!" Peter announced pointing at the field. "Is it just me or do the Aitken twins look like they are ready to bash people off their brooms?"

"Oh, don't say that, Peter," Lily hushed him.

"Don't worry Lily. They'll be fine."

"I'd feel better if they were playing soccer," she said faintly as the two teams kicked off into the air. Madam Befert released the four balls into the air and Sirius took off with the ball. James, Sirius and Adaline Bennett zig zagged around the Slytherin chasers, passing the ball between the three of them. James had the ball and ducked when a Peyton Aitken shot a bludger at him. He threw the ball at Sirius who caught it easily and shot down the field as fast as a spell, faked a left at the goal posts only to throw the ball into the right goal hoop. Gryffindor scored and erupted into cheers. Lily clapped loudly and shouted happily.

The ball was taken by a Slytherin chaser but half way down the field Bennett intercepted a pass, dodged one of the Slytherins and passed the ball to James before ducking to miss being hit by a bludger by Aitkens, which then went on to hit one of the Slytherin chasers who hadn't seen the bludger. Gryffindor laughed and shouted approval as Aitken turned red faced with anger and embarrassment.

Sirius passed the quaffle to James at the last second and he pummelled it through the middle goal post. Gryffindor scored again and Gryffindor roared. The game kept going in this manner. Gryffindor kept scoring and there had been near slip-ups but Flawley never failed to catch an oncoming quaffle. She was everywhere. Lily could see James flying around with the biggest smile. Even if Slytherin caught the snitch it'd be a Gryffindor win.

"You know, the school really should have a commentator," Lily said. "It's quite hard to see some of the plays or who has the ball."

"The school usually does, McGonagall probably hasn't found a replacement for Eddie Waverly," Peter said.

"She should really find one," Lily amended.

Gryffindor scored again and when the faint cheering started no one noticed that the Slytherin Seeker, Regulus Black started speeding down the pitch. Podmore joined the chase and she caught up to Black but he was still slightly ahead. Bell shot a well aimed bludger at Black and it nicked the back of his broom making him spin out of control. Podmore sped up, her hand outstretched and finally her fingers closed around something. Gryffindor caught the snitch they had won! The whole stadium erupted with noise; booing from the Slytherin stands and unimaginable cheering from Gryffindor.

Lily went to walk onto the field but Remus and Peter stopped her.

"We've got to organise the common room party."

"People actually organise that?" Lily asked astonished. She had always thought it was something that had just happened because everyone was really happy.

"You've a lot to learn, Lily."

"I'll sneak into Rosemerta's to get the Firewhiskey. I think Sirius ordered two cartons," Peter said. "Were gonna be sloshy."

"What if Gryffindor didn't win?" Lily asked as they descended from the stands.

"We keep the order for the next game," Remus shrugged. "But James has never failed to win us a game."

"That's our Prongs. Unstoppable."

Lily noticed how the cheers seemed so distant from the castle as they pulled Lily into a run and they laughed and stumbled as they ran up seven floors to the Gryffindor tower. Peter had almost smashed into a wall and Lily almost fell off the Grand Staircase.

In the common room, Peter left with the map and cloak whilst Remus and Lily set everything up. They conjured up a table cloth and created a table that wasn't noticeable unless you walked right into the common room and was small enough to cover with the invisibility cloak.

"Have you two always done this?" Lily asked as Peter came back floating two cartons of Firewhiskey in front of him. He set them down under the table and pulled out three bottles and put them on the tables. Lily conjured up plastic cups and also set them on the table.

"What are those?" Peter asked curiously.

"Plastic cups, for drinking. Afterwards you just throw them out. No need for extra cleaning. Don't wizards have plastic cups?"

"No, we usually steal goblets from the kitchens and then return them," Remus said. "Do you remember the time where the Slytherins and Ravenclaws didn't have goblets? That was because we'd forgotten to return them to the elves. Very annoyed with us they were."

"You guys take too much advantage of the house elves," Lily frowned.

"Talking of house elves, I'll go get the food."

"Food?"

"We, uh, make a special order for cakes and finger food for parties."

Lily shook her head before saying, "Can I come? I want to see how the map works."

"Prongs will hex me if he wasn't the one to show you how to use the map. Besides that requires a group meeting. We have to make sure you're trustworthy."

"Really now?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow. Peter and Remus nodded. "All right, go before everyone starts coming." Remus disappeared through the portrait hole and it was just Peter and Lily. Lily couldn't help herself and asked Peter, "Would James really hex Remus if he showed me how to use the map?"

Peter nodded fervently. "Not even a question."

Lily smiled slyly. For some reason the idea of James being somewhat jealous that his best mate would show Lily something without him made Lily happy. Jealousy in small dosages was good. It showed they cared enough to be angry over something stupid.

Peter looked at Lily's face and raised an eyebrow. "That made you extremely happy, didn't it?"

"Shut up," Lily said with a smile but blushing nonetheless.

Within an hour the common room was roaring with noise and Lily still hadn't found James. Sirius had come, Adaline had come and in fact the whole team had come back apart from James and that Flawley girl. Lily knew she shouldn't worry but Sirius had said James was right behind him but fifteen minutes had passed and it was evident James wasn't 'right behind' Sirius. Where was he?

—

James was shoving his Quidditch robes into a hamper and headed out to the lockers. He was about to leave when he saw Nicolea Flawley nursing a hand on the seats.

"You okay?"

Nicolea shrugged. "My wrist hurts. I think that bludger that hit me did more damage than I thought."

"Broken?"

"Sprained, I think."

"Let's go to Madam Pomfrey then."

Nicolea nodded and stood up. She fell into step next to James and they stayed silent until they reached the castle.

"So you finally got the girl," Nicolea said with a smile.

"Hmm?"

"Lily Evans, you douche."

"I've the faintest idea what you're talking about," James said with a knowing smile.

"Oh shove it. The whole school knows you're in love with her. I wish my love life was like yours."

"He'll realise soon enough," James promised.

"Sirius? Do you really think so?"

James couldn't say he approved of his cousin's choice in crush but he may be biased seeing as Nicolea was his cousin and Sirius was his best mate.

"I wouldn't say it's out of the cards," James said carefully, "He thinks you're really fit."

Nicolea snorted. "Is that all you boys care about?"

"Hey, Sirius is Sirius. The first thing he judges about a girl is her looks."

"Maybe I don't like my crush choice anymore."

"Oh cheer up. You'll get married some day. Besides not all the guys can be as handsome as me."

"Keep dreaming. But congratulations on, you know," she trailed off awkwardly.

"Getting the girl," James finished for her and she nodded. "Thanks, cousin."

"Now go and keep the girl. I can't imagine she'd be pleased at your delay. I can handle a sprain. Sirius was up there twenty minutes ago. What if she thinks you're having an affair?"

"I wouldn't."

"I know. Go."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Stop being annoying. You're acting like I'm five. I'll join the festivities in a little while and you can harass me with worry then."

"Love you, Nikki."

"Yeah, yeah. Go on. See you in a bit."

"You did good today, just so you know."

"I always do good you git!"

James grinned before running off to the common room, eager to see his girlfriend.

When James found Lily she looked a little worried. Her face wasn't smiling and she looked distant.

"What's wrong?" James asked her immediately. "Is it your dad?"  
"What? No! I was – where were you?"

"I was with Nikki. Why?"

"You were with 'Nikki'. Who's that?" Lily asked and for some reason she looked even more upset. Tears weren't about to well out of her eyes or anything but she definitely looked bothered.

"Nicolea."

"Oh," Lily said and her shoulders slumped.

"My cousin," James continued.

"Oh!" she said. "Is Flawley your cousin?"

"Yeah. Why, what did you think?" James accused.

"I, well she had her arm around you this morning and I just – James Potter stop laughing!"

James immediately straightened up but a laugh still escaped his lips and Lily blushed. "I'm sorry, Marie. It's just I'm not used to you being jealous."

"I'm not jealous!"

"It can be our secret," James said wanting to kiss her.

"I'm not jealous!" she repeated as James grabbed her hands and pulled her closer.

"Whatever you say," James smirked and Lily sighed.

"I hate you," she said.

"Mmmhmm," James said brushing his lips over hers. "Tell me more."

"You're arrogant," he kissed her lips, "and annoying," he kissed her again, "and a troublemaker," he kissed her again, "And I love you."

James froze. "What?"

"I love you," she smiled. "I love you. I love you. I love you!"

"Does this mean I can finally say it?" he asked and Lily nodded. "I love you, too."

"You're such a goof, I swear."

"Yeah well you're the girlfriend of a goof so that makes you even goofier."

Lily shook her head. "You drive me crazy."

"Then leave."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because, I just can't. Good win today, love." She pressed her lips to his and someone in the common room wolf whistled – James had his money on Sirius – but they didn't care. Lily's hands were cupping James' face and James hands were running up and down her hips, pulling her closer. James pulled back slightly, "Wanna go up?" he asked gesturing to the dormitory stairs. Lily bit her lip in the moment it took her decide and nodded her head with a small smile. James grinned and surprised Lily by lifting her up bridal style. She laughed loudly as people looked and James shouted loudly for people to clear the way. Half way up the deserted dormitory stairs he set Lily down and pressed her against the wall. Lily looped her arms around his waist and James's face was a centimetre from hers as he leaned the wall. Within a second his lips were on hers again and Lily slipped her hands under James's jumper digging her nails softly into his skin. James couldn't help himself. He moaned straight into her ear as she placed soft kisses on his neck. James unable to contain himself, pulled her up and she wrapped her legs around him and they slowly started making their way up to the dorm. They giggled as James stumbled on a step a few times and laughed loudly when they finally tumbled onto James's bed. Lily pulled off James's jumper so he was only in a white t-shirt and James pulled off Lily's scarf as she kicked off her shoes. Lily pulled off her coat and jumper as James kicked off his shoes and looked at Lily.

She was looking at him with wide, wondrous eyes and James thought her eyes were prettier than anything he'd ever seen. James would never be able to get over the simple beauty Lily Evans had and they way she was looking at him would haunt James until he died, he was sure of it. The happy smile, wide eyes and soft skin. He just wanted to kiss her. He wanted her so much it hurt.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"I love you," she said simply and nodded again. James pointed his wand at the door to lock it and Lily pulled off her shirt. James crawled over her, tracing his hand up her skin and loving that the touch of his fingertips gave her goose bumps. His lips hovered lightly over hers and her hands fumbled at the hem of his shirt. Finally she grasped it and pulled it up and James straightened and finished the job as Lily stared gloriously at his physique. James came back down and attacked her with kisses, his palms firmly going up her hips and over her breasts before he lowered his head and left a trail of kisses down the middle of her chest and stomach until he got to the start of her jeans. He popped the button open and pulled the zipper down slowly. He pulled her pants off slowly kissing a path down her leg, his hand playing with her panties, teasing her. When the pants came off his lips were at her mouth, her hand holding the back of his neck firmly, the other trying to pop the button to his jeans open. James kissed along Lily's jaw line and down her neck, sucking softly on her skin. He found immeasurable pleasure in making her moan. James pushed down Lily's panties and massaged her clit pushing his fingers in and Lily gasped from surprise and delight. He slid them out and Lily pulled his underwear off. Lily's fingers dug into his back and he moaned quietly and Lily whispered, "Do it." And so he did. He slid inside her and they rode it out together.

"I love you," he whispered looking right at her eyes. She traced his face and said, "Oh James, I love you too."

"You don't know how long I'd wished you say that for."

Lily smirked, "I think I've a pretty good idea. I've seen your mind, remember?"

"Right. The turning point."

"I love you," Lily repeated bringing down James face and kissing him hard. James reciprocated and slid his hands under her back. She arched up so their naked bodies were touching, he went in again and again and again until they were both spent.

They wondered down the stairs back into the common room an hour later, barely able to keep their hands off each other and James could barely keep his eyes off of her. She looked beautiful. Her hair, despite her best efforts, was a little dishevelled and she was wearing one of James's jumpers. Her face was slightly flushed but bright with happiness, he could look at that smile forever. Her hand fit so perfectly in his and it felt so easy to be with her. He could do this for the rest of his life and all he could do was hope and pray that she felt the same way.

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hi, everyone! Sorry this update was a bit delayed but like I mentioned the chapters, whilst already written, need some work on them and at the moment I have exams coming up._

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _-Natalie xx_


	14. Chapter 13: It Comes In Threes

Lily and James were sneaking around the school after hours, James was finally showing Lily how to use the map after two days of incessant begging. They had settled in an empty classroom sitting against a wall on the floor, the flames in a jar that James had conjured the only source of light and Lily was nestled in between James's legs, her head nestled comfortably on his shoulder,

"So, I guess I passed the trustworthy test?" Lily snatched the blank piece of paper off him and turned it over amazed at how this blank piece of ratty parchment would become a map of the school.

"It's more of a formality. I would've shown you anyways."

Lily looked at the parchment. "So how does it work then?"

"Say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'."

"Seriously?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow at the parchment.

"Don't judge. Say it and tap the map with your wand."

Lily sighed and pulled her wand out, she tapped the front and said, " _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."_ Immediately markings appeared on the page, drawing themselves into words and lines and Lily read " _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP_ ". James sat quietly watching as Lily took in the scope of the map. She opened it up and found little dots with names on them in various areas. Madam Pince, the dreaded librarian, was seen prowling the library. Professor McGonagall was walking in a corridor nearby and Professor Dumbledore was sitting in an empty Great Hall. Lily searched the map further and saw her and James's dots sitting in the empty classroom. Lily tried to take in every crevice of the map but it was ultimately impossible. The map had every secret passage way and hallway and stairwell. It had passageways Lily had never even seen before.

"I – this is incredible!"

"You like it?"

"James, this is magnificent! You could make copies and sell them! They'd make a fortune."

"I've already got a fortune love. Besides if everyone had them, Filch would ban them."

"When was the last time anyone listened to Filch?" but before James could answer she saw that seven passages led out of the school, "Where do those go?"

"Hogsmeade."

"Really?" Lily asked looking at the map again, "Well I already know that the Whomping Willow leads to that weird house."

"Shrieking Shack," James corrected.

"That was the Shrieking Shack?"

"Yep, Dumbledore set it up."

"But the rumours!"

"Dumbledore helps them along, I believe. One time I heard him telling Professor Nittles that evil ghosts who wanted to take revenge on people were put in the house and weren't allowed out because of an enchantment Dumbledore put on the house himself. Of course no ghost would ever go in the house now. See the trick was you had to trick them into the house in the first place. You can't exactly grab a ghost."

"So where does the screaming and shouting come from? Remus?" Lily asked horrified.

"Yeah, less so since we became animagi but yeah."

"Oh, poor Remus!" Lily gushed, trying to imagine how much pain Remus must suffer through if it could make a village of people believe in evil ghosts trapped in a shack. "He shouldn't have to go through that at all."

"I know," James agreed, "Have you had enough fun with the map now?"

"Why? Do you want a kiss?"

"Hmm, maybe."

"How do you close it?"

James tapped his own wand to the parchment and said, " _Mischief managed._ " The writing vanished and Lily tucked the parchment into her robe. "Hey, come on," James laughed. "Give it back."

Lily stood up and edged away from James. "Make me," she challenged.

"This isn't going to end well for you," James warned, a hint of a smile on his lips and Lily laughed as he slowly walked towards her, his eyes sparkling from the prospect of the game. Lily edged back, through the tables, until she hit a wall. James cornered her in and pressed his lips to her mouth, his hands on either side of her head. His lips attempted to distract Lily as his hand slowly slid down her side and it would've worked if Lily hadn't been anticipating it. She slapped his hand away from her robe pocket.

"Okay," James sighed, "I really didn't want to resort to this." Lily looked at him confused until his fingers were tickling her stomach like crazy. Lily shouted and laughed and tried to push James away but it was no use. James was much stronger than Lily.

"What! Is going on in here?"

James immediately stopped tickling Lily and they straightened themselves up. Lily's smile faded as she realised who it was, a dim ache of resentment in her took over. Of course, Snape had to be the one on duty tonight. She noticed how his hooked nose was scrunched up, as though revolted by the sight of her.

"Severus," Lily said stiffening up.

"I see you've joined with the riff raff. Lowered your standards, I see."

Lily grabbed James's arm to stop him from doing anything stupid and then turned to Snape. "Well according to you, I don't have any standards because I'm a filthy, little mudblood."

"You know, I never believed you would actually get with Potter but I guess you didn't hate him as much as you said you did."

"I never said I hated him!" Lily defended as James went a little rigid. She tightened her grip on his arm, her thumb rubbing circles — a gesture Snape's eyes seemed attracted to. "I said he was arrogant and immature."

"Right," he said lowly. "My mistake. I think that's twenty points from Gryffindor for being out of bed after curfew and another fifteen because you are Head Boy and Girl and should know better."

"Right. Well, we'll best be off."

Lily tugged James past Snape and out of the unused classroom and only stopped walking when they were well away from Snape.

"Here's the map," Lily said giving it to James who took it wordlessly, putting it in his own pocket. "James?" she asked. He looked vacant and distant and Lily couldn't help but ask, "You okay?"

"You hated me?"

Lily understood all at once and it hurt that he'd actually believed that. Lily never truly hated people. Sometimes she disliked people and thought they acted irrationally but she could never hate someone.

"No, I didn't like your behaviour. Like how you used to curse Snape and tease people for no reason."  
"But he said…"

"James, Snape was just trying to annoy you, get under your skin. I promise. Half the time I'd agree with Snape just to get him to shut up about how much he hated you. I was sick of hearing about it and it came to a point where I used to think he was over exaggerating and I'd despise you for being annoying. You are genuinely a good person. You saved Snape from Remus in fifth year. You became an animagus to help your friend. You help Peter with his Transfiguration homework every night. When we're on patrol you never dock points, just tell students to get to bed. You are an exceedingly good person and I love you. I don't care anymore about back then. I care about now and right now you are the most caring bloke. In fact, you're kind of a dork."

James was silent for a moment, looking at Lily's pleading face before saying gruffly, "I'm not a dork," and Lily laughed as the tension lifted.

"I love you," Lily murmured and she pressed her lips to his for a moment before saying they should head back to the tower in case Snape came again.

—

Professor Slughorn was droning on about Polyjuice Potion and it sounded about as difficult to make as you'd expect a potion that can transform you into another person to be. Luckily, it was a group project but unluckily Michael Putley was assigned with their group of four when all the other groups had filled.

No one seemed to want to start the potion, afraid of screwing up and it was times like this that Ella missed Lily because had they not been fighting with Lily, Lily would have been in their group and she would've taken charge of the potion.

"I'll, er, go get the ingredients," Marlene offered, hopping off her stool and disappearing in the storage closet.

Putley was the next to move, placing a pewter cauldron onto the burner and setting a fire to the correct temperature underneath.

Ella avoided looking at him, pretending to read over the instructions once more in her textbook. She couldn't fathom why he was so pissy at her for, the way she saw it, she saved him from all of her baggage. So she'd let him kiss her and then turned him down, who cared? It wasn't like she'd pressed him up against a wall and accosted him. It was a peck on the lips not a huge romantic gesture or, to be crass, their virtues.

Marlene came back with a bunch of ingredients and Ella was grateful when Marlene shoved the knot grass at Ella and asked her to make sure the two bundles had the precise amount of grass in them. Ella meticulously counted each piece of grass in the bundles, double and even triple checking just so she could avoid talking. Marlene added the three measures of fluxweed (which was apparently plucked on a full moon, Ella could not tell you why that was important) and then added the two bundles of knotgrass. She let Alice stir it four times in a clockwise direction and wave her wand over it.

"And now we wait for eighty minutes," Alice announced, a small frown on her face. "Well this got dull very quickly."

As if hearing Alice's complaint, Slughorn said, "Whilst you wait for your potions to brew, you may start your essay on the properies of Polyjuice Potion. Remember to include the importance of the property and why the polyjuice potion requires it. Also add in advantages of why it is better to prepare ingredients yourselves rather than have them store bought. Yes, Miss Evans?"

Ella turned. "Aren't we using store bought ingredients now sir?"

"Right you are, my girl! But as we are pressed for time during the school year, we have to speed up the process a little by using store prepared ingredients. However, professional brewers recommend — as does your textbook — to prepare the ingredients on your own."

The class returned back to their potions, the entire class now waiting for the potion to brew. Ella pulled out a piece of parchment and started making notes from the textbook that would help her with her essay.

"No, Peter don't-"

A small explosion sounded — not uncommon for the potions classroom — and when Ella looked over Lily was fanning her hand over her eyes where thick, lumpy potion was splattered across her face and no doubt in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lily!" Peter cried.

Professor Slughorn sent Lily to the Hospital Wing with Potter as an escort and everyone else turned back to their work.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Adaline asked.

Ella shrugged. "I'm sure Pomfrey will fix her up."

"I thought you guys hated Evans now," Putley said.

"We're fighting, doesn't mean we hate her," Ella snapped.

"Pretty big fight — I heard you kicked her out of her own dorm."

"No one asked for your opinion, Putley."

"'Course, Dearborn."

Ella rolled her eyes and Marlene jumped in with a question about the potion to avert everyone's attention.

—

James was quite sour towards a very apologetic Peter for the next hour or so and he was quite unfocused for the rest of Potions. He couldn't help but keep thinking about Lily so he tried to occupy his mind by writing notes on the potion they were making. It worked to an extent.

"She'll be fine," Sirius said for the hundredth time.

"I know," James said, "But when I left her she said she couldn't see anything. All black."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Peter blustered again and James sick of hearing the apology snapped, "Peter, if you apologise one more time, I'll use a silencing charm on you. I know you didn't mean to and so does Lily. She'll be fine."

"Then why are you so worried for?" Peter asked and James sighed.

"I don't know, Wormtail. I just am."

"It's because James is a lovesick puppy who can't stand to be separated from his one true love."

Remus tried not to laugh but he failed and James stared at them unamused.

"Okay and that is the end of the lesson," Professor Slughorn announced. "Now, I remind you that one of your group members will need to come down to add an ingredient before next lesson. I will not keep track of this. This is up to you. You may store your cauldron in the storeroom," he said flicking a door on the right side of the room open with his wand, "And have fun at lunch."

James went to leave immediately but Snape was blocking the exit way.

"Can you move?" James asked hurriedly.

"Manners!" Snape snarled.

"Are you always as pretentious as a pure blood wrench?" James spat.

"You wouldn't be in a hurry if your stupid, fat friend could read instructions right!"

James pulled out his wand, "Apologise!" he demanded. Snape pulled out his wand too and aimed it between James's eyes and without hesitating muttered, " _Sectumsempra_."

James blocked it with his mind immediately and his face went white. _Sectumsempra_! He, the spell, it was Snape's. Snape attacked her.

"Until you learn to perform spells non-verbally I will always be one step ahead of you! Now get out of my way you snivelling idiot!"

James bolted all the way to the hospital wing and by the time he got there he was breathless. All that was whirling through James's mind was that Snape attacked her. He wanted to kill him. Snape did it. It wasn't a faceless person anymore. It was Snape.

"Who's there?" Lily said looking blankly into space.

"Lily, it's me James."

"Oh," she said leaning back into the pillows. "Are you okay?"

"I, um, am fine. Still can't see?"

"Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion to drink about fifteen minutes ago. Nothing's changed yet though. She said the potion takes twenty four hours to be completely done. So I'm staying over night."

James sat on the bed next to her and wrapped his arm around her holding her close because he needed it, to remind himself that Snape didn't succeed, to calm him down.

"I'll sneak out to visit you."

"Really?" Lily asked hopefully. James kissed her forehead and nodded. "Are you sure you're okay?"

James smiled even though she couldn't see it. Lily Evans always so intuitive just when you don't want her to be.

"I just, it sucks that you're gonna be stuck in here until tomorrow."

James didn't know why he couldn't tell her. He just couldn't. Perhaps he felt as though if he told her she'd become angry and upset and he didn't want to upset her. Besides she was blind, it's not like she could go up to Snape and hex him or something.

"You're lying. Your heart is beating a mile," Lily murmured. "Tell me what's wrong."

"It, it's Snape-"

"James, I told you not to worry about what he said. Are you still upset over that?"

"No-"

"Then what? Did he say something else to you?"

"I, he tried to curse me."

"You're not hurt are you?" Lily said worriedly.

"Can you let me finish?" James asked.

"Fine," Lily skulked.

"He cursed me."

"We've already established that."

"Lily," he warned.

"Sorry."

"So he cursed me and the spell. It was, 'sectumsempra'."

"That sounds, oh!" she said clapping a hand to her mouth. "But it can't be! You would've recognised him."

"He was wearing a mask, Lily."

"But it just can't be. I would've recognised his voice."

"Lily, no book in the library has that spell in it. Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore have never heard of the spell. It makes sense. Snape made it. Snape created the spell and he used it on muggle-borns with the intent to kill."

"But it just can't be him, James, it can't!"

"Why?"

"Because we were friends," she said and James felt something wet on his shirt and realised Lily had started crying. He hugged her closer, tighter and kissed her forehead.

"I know, Lily. I didn't want to upset you," James murmured.

"You didn't. He did."

"I love you, Marie."

"I love you, Jems."

"Jems?"

Lily shrugged, "My nickname for you. Only fair I get to call you something no one else does."

James smiled and kissed her forehead again. "I missed you in class."

"You didn't ruin the Potion did you?"

"No, I rather think Peter accomplished that. Remus fixed it up, I think and he went after our free period to add the bicorn."

"Good, good," Lily said with a small nod of approval. "I'm starving."

—

Adaline was startled to see Lily waiting for her outside the Arithmancy classroom on Wednesday afternoon. Adaline, who'd been warming up to the idea of making up with Lily for a while now, stopped whilst Marlene went on ahead without her.

"Lily," Adaline acknowledged. It was hard to know how she should be when she hadn't talked to Lily in so long.

"I need your help," Lily admitted. "I need you to come with me to talk to Severus."

Whatever Adaline had been expecting this had not been it. "Snape? Why?"

Lily jumped into a brief explanation on how James thought Snape was the one attacking muggle-borns in the school because he knew about the spell that Lily heard her attacker use. "I don't want to go on my own, but I will if I have to."

"All right," Adaline agreed. Maybe this was it, how they could put their pride aside and become friends again. "Let's go."

"He won't talk to me, not now that I've started … I have to ambush him."

Adaline snorted. "How do you plan to do that?" Snape was hardly ever alone, his posse of Death Eater friends seemed to be with him all the time nowadays.

"I have a plan," Lily assured her. "Just keep an eye out for me when I leave dinner tonight."

"I don't know, Lily," Adaline sighed. "Last week Mulciber hexed a fifth year so bad they were in the Hospital Wing for three days."

"Please, Della," Lily begged.

Adaline sighed again and nodded. "Oh, all right but if we get caught, I swear Lily, I'll kill you."

"If we get caught, James will kill me," she shuddered.

"You mean James doesn't know?"

A guilty look passed her face. "No, so our secret, yeah?"

"Our secret," Adaline repeated and Lily grinned.

"Thank you, Della."

Adaline smiled this time. She was glad that Lily came to her with this and happy that Lily knew she could count on Adaline to be there for her.

"I better catch up with Marly, but I'll see you later yeah?"

Lily nodded. "I'll see you later." She walked away and Thomas walked up to her, pecking her lips and sliding his hand in hers.

"Did my eyes deceive me or were you talking to Evans?"

"Yeah, she wants me to help her with something," Adaline told him.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Adaline said and then she wondered if he minded that she couldn't tell him. "She asked me not to tell anyone."

Thomas nodded. "Oh," he said again, this time he sounded disappointed.

"It's a one time thing," she assured him. "And it's nothing really."

Thomas shrugged now. "If you say so. Wanna have a one on one Quidditch match?"

Adaline grinned, "Meet you in the entrance hall in fifteen?"

"Perfect," he agreed.

"First one there starts with the quaffle!" Adaline shouted as she ran down the corridor, Thomas running after her.

—

Lily found it odd not to tell James something. She felt dirty somehow as though she were doing something terrible. But she wasn't. Not really. She just wanted to talk to an old friend who her current boyfriend was archenemies with. It wasn't that bad. Not really. If anything Lily found out she was great at hiding things, James did not suspect a thing. No one did.

"Lily," James said that afternoon as they lay down under a holly tree. Lily was sitting up against the tree and James's head rested in her lap, "If you could do anything in the world, what would it be?"

"Travel, I guess," Lily said stroking his hair. "But with the war going on I don't see that happening anytime soon."

"What do you think happens when we die?"

Lily collected her thoughts for a moment before answering, "I think the last enemy that will be destroyed is death."

James looked up at her and asked, "That's a bit Death Eater like."

"No, not as in living forever, I mean as in living on after death. I believe there's life after death."

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

Lily got chills when James said that and she bent down to kiss his lips, "You know, it's a fairly cold afternoon and we're sitting here talking about death when I'd rather be doing stuff to warm us up…"

"Race you to the dorm?" James asked and Lily laughed and they helped each other up before sprinting to the dorm where no clothes were necessary.

Later that night Lily and James were eating dinner in the Great Hall and something extraordinary happened. Adaline, all straight backed and a smile on her face, sat next to Lily and started asking questions about how James and Lily got together. Lily thought she might be pretending and wasn't eager to share a lot of information at first but James went about joking and charming her, they were all laughing within minutes.

Lily smiled from sheer happiness. For once, James was hanging out with her friend. Not that it was James's fault, it was theirs and Lily's, she had to admit. They all had the stubborn streak. But Lily was glad to finally talk to Adaline again after so many weeks. Lily found out that Adaline's parents went to the United States and that her brother sent her non-stop letters about his latest trip to Japan.

When the conversation had died out a little, Adaline excused herself from the table and Lily pecked James's kiss and ran after her.

"Adaline!" she called out and without warning Lily ran up to her and hugged her, maybe a little too tightly.

"Lily, can't breathe."

Lily released her and said, "Right."

"I missed you, too."

"You've no idea. I miss everyone so much. I miss being part of a group." They linked arms and started leading Adaline to the Entrance Courtyard where they'd be able to keep an eye out for Snape.

"You've gained status as an honorary Marauder."

"Honorary?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow as they sat on the edge of a fountain.  
"Well, at least temporary."

"Do they still hate me?" Lily whispered.

"Oh, they don't hate you, Lily. They're just too stubborn to realise that you might've had a good reason for shutting them out those few weeks and once Marlene has a power speech about how we shouldn't stand for it…"

"She's such a hot head," Lily groaned.

"Can you tell me why…?"

"It's a long story."

"I feel like it has something to do with why James isn't being accused of murder anymore…" she hinted and Lily laughed and told her the whole story.

"You, you went in his head? You performed the memory surfing spell?"

"Did a pretty damn good job too. I was so scared I was going to cork his brain and the only people I could talk to it about were James and his friends because they were-"

"The only ones who knew."

"Yep."

"And that's why you were being distant. You had to practice and they helped you."

"Yep."

"And then you and James fell in love." Lily blushed. "Oh, you don't have to be embarrassed the whole school was buzzing when you two finally got together."

"Really?"

"You must've been in your love bubble. To distracted by him to notice. Marlene was quite annoyed at the hot topic gossip you'd managed to spruce up."

"How's, how is everyone?"

"Ella's worried about the NEWTs. It's like a whole new Ella. She's always got her nose in a book. Alice makes one of us duel with her every night so she can get better at it. And Marlene keeps reading books about healing from the library and tries to mend everything that happens to us. It's quite annoying."

"Aren't they going to get mad that you're talking to me?"

Adaline shook her head, "Alice asks about you all the time and Marlene pretends not to listen but she's listening and Ella, Ella just casually brings you up all the time. 'I wonder what we'd be doing if Lily was here' or 'I miss Lily, it's weird having a dorm of only four people'."

"Tell them that I miss them?" Lily asked and Adaline nodded. "Thank you, Adaline, for giving me a chance to explain. For not completely shutting me out."

"I've missed you."

Lily nodded and silence fell on them until Adaline asked, "So, Potter, is he a good kisser?" and Lily burst out laughing.

"Better than that ice cream lover," Lily teased and Adaline laughed. "So any new flames for Adaline Bennett?"

She blushed and Lily slapped her arm playfully and asked "Who?"

"Thomas and I are … official," Adaline blushed and Lily's mouth dropped.

"Merlin, Della, I can't even remember the last time you had a boyfriend."

"I don't know, it just sort of happened," she shrugged.

"We'll have to go on a double date soon," Lily mused and Adaline laughed.

"I think Potter would eat him alive."

"James isn't so bad," Lily defended with a blush in her cheeks.

"So you two finally happened."

"Yeah, I guess we did."

Adaline sat up straight, "Snape's leaving the hall."

"Let's go!"

Adaline and Lily followed Snape at a generous distance until they got him in a corridor that was empty. Adaline lifted her wand and suddenly the end of the corridor was blocked by vines so thick you'd think there was a forest behind them. Snape whipped around, wand in hand and Lily shouted, " _Expelliarmus_!" Snape's wand flew across the room and Lily caught it with ease.

"Hello Severus."

"What do you want?"

"I just want to ask you something."

"What?"

"Was it you that night in the Astronomy Tower? Did you try to kill me?"

Snape's eyes widen. "No! How could you think that? Just because I've chosen a side doesn't mean I would hurt you!"

"Because we use to be friends, right? But any other muggle-born is okay for you to kill or hurt. I'm sorry I find that hard to believe. The curse you hit James with was the same curse used on me. Dumbledore and McGonagall have never heard of the spell, which means someone created it and I remember you use to dabble around in that sort of thing! You use to read so many books on spell making."

"I didn't try to kill you, Lily and, and I'm not the only one who knows about that spell! I wrote it in my Potions textbook last year and it got stolen!"

"I find that hard to believe, Snape. You come near me or lay a wand on James again, I'll hex you so bad you'll need to go to St Mungo's … and you aren't to mention a word of this to James or else I'll put you on patrol every second night for a month."

Lily threw Snape's wand back at him, he fumbled but managed to catch it as Lily walked away and Adaline removed the vines from the end of the hallway.

As Lily and Adaline walked back to the Gryffindor common room they noticed the hallways and corridors were peculiarly quiet. Dinner had just finished there should still be people wandering around.

"Something's wrong," Lily murmured. She grabbed Adaline's hand and they sprinted back to the common room.

As soon as they climbed through the portrait hole James was snatching Lily up in a hug.

"James! What's wrong?"

"There's been another attack and you left and I thought it might be you again. I was so worried! Where were you?"

"Another attack?" Lily asked. "When?"

"We heard about it a few minutes after you left. India Paris found someone dead in the Boat Houses." Lily's heart sank a little. It wasn't Snape who was behind the attacks. Unless he wasn't working alone. _I'm not the only one who knows about the spell_. The words echoed.

"The person died?" Adaline asked appalled.

"This is bad," Lily stated with tears in her eyes. James hugged Lily again and kissed her temple.

"I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine," Lily promised. Adaline went off to find the girls and Lily and James went to the couches by the window where the rest of the Marauders were sitting.

"Glad to see you're alive, Lils," Sirius commented and Lily laughed. James stiffened and glared at Sirius. "Oh lighten up, just trying to lighten the mood."

"Think of a better joke," James snapped and then, "Like the dismal state of your hair."

"Better than yours," Sirius retorted.

The boys banter was disrupted by a sudden tapping on the window. The owl tapping the window was Beedle, Lily's owl and in that moment a gripping fear took over Lily's body.

James went over to the window and let Beedle in who immediately perched itself on Lily's shoulder. Lily's shaking hand grabbed the letter and knew immediately that it was from her parents. More specifically her mum's neat handwriting was sprawled across the page. Lily knew what the letter would say if she opened it. Lily opened the envelope, slipping her finger under the seal and pulled the letter out.

What Lily read confirmed her suspicions. She handed the letter to James and ran up to the dormitory. Strangely she was calm. She started packing her clothes into her trunk and she was half way finished when James knocked on the door and walked in.

"Lily?"

"I, uh, have to go talk to McGonagall to let her know I'll be going home for a week."

"Lily, slow down. You don't have to pack right now," he said grabbing her hand as she attempted to shove school books in her trunk. "Besides that's Peter's." James set Peter's textbook on the bedside table.

James and Lily sunk on the bed together, sitting side by side. "We'll go talk to McGonagall and she'll organise for the train to come tomorrow morning. You'll be home by nightfall."

"Will you come with me?" Lily asked. "I don't think I can do this on my own."

"Of course," James agreed and kissed Lily's cheek. "Whatever you need, love."

"He's not dead yet. Just hospitalised but they say he's only got a few days left … James, my dad's going to die."

Lily finally broke down crying and James comforted her for the rest of the night.

—

Lily had finally fallen asleep and they still hadn't spoken with McGonagall yet about leaving Hogwarts for a week. James slid off the bed and threw a blanket over Lily before heading down to the common room. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she felt but James vowed to do whatever he could to make it easier for her though nothing about this would be easier.

"How is she?" Remus asked.

"She's sleeping. She wants to go home tomorrow so I'm going to go talk to McGonagall now. I don't think she'll wake but just keep an eye on her."

"Of course," Sirius promised, clapping James on the shoulder.

"Do you want us to pack your trunks?" Peter asked.

"That'd be great," James agreed, "Don't worry too much on school stuff, just clothes."

James left the common room and went straight to Professor McGonagall's office. She was in there filling out paper work.

"Potter, is that you?"

James walked into her office and sat on the chair opposite her desk.

"Professor, sorry, I know we aren't supposed to be out of bed but it's Lily. She's just received news from her mother. Her father is fatally ill and he's in the hospital. Their healers say he's only got a few days left. We were hoping we could be excused from school to go back to her home for a week."

Professor McGonagall nodded, "Take two weeks, she'll need it. You'll be accompanying her?"

James nodded. "Very well then, the train will be at the station at ten a.m. Professor Ollivander will escort you there. Make sure your friends owl you any school work that you will miss so you don't fall too far behind."

"Of course. Thank you, Professor."

"Not to worry Potter. Now get back to your dormitory and stay there."

"Professor, may I ask who was killed?"

"It was Charlotte Blake. Second year in Hufflepuff. Don't spread the news too far Potter."

James nodded and walked back to the dormitory. Lily was still fast asleep and the boys had packed Lily's and his things away. James slid into bed but couldn't fall asleep. He remembered a simpler time where magic was everything good and wondrous. It could fix anything but now it had been proven that magic could do just as much bad as good and it could not in fact fix everything.

—

James woke Lily up at eight thirty and they went down to the Great Hall to have breakfast. James noticed that Lily was only nibbling at her food.

"We didn't talk to McGonagall last night," Lily stated numbly.

"I went when you fell asleep. Professor Ollivander is escorting us to the station at a quarter to ten. We're going to have the whole train to ourselves."

Under normal circumstances James would love the idea of being alone with Lily on a train for several hours but these were not normal circumstances and James was not use to seeing Lily so heartbroken.

"James," Lily said, "Are you sure you want to come? I mean, you do realise that you'll have to meet my parents and my sister."

"Nothing would make me happier than to meet your family," James assured her, kissing her hand. Lily managed a weak smile but James knew not to take it personally.

"We have to go pack," Lily started but James shook his head and said, "The boys packed for us whilst I spoke to McGonagall. Everything's been taken care of. We're spending two weeks at your place."

"Two?"

"McGonagall insisted."

"I should get her something to thank her."

James noticed that Lily had only eaten half her toast. "Aren't you going to finish it?" He asked pointing to her plate. Lily grabbed the toast and finished eating.

"What about our school work? Two weeks is a long time to be away," Lily said with a slight frown.

"The boys will send us any homework and we're both of age so we can practice spells at your place."

"Petunia is not going to like that idea."

"Your sister is a hag," James retorted. "It's your house, too. If you want to do magic you can."

Lily smiled and then frowned. Her dad was dying. "Let's go to the common room. I want to see what the boys packed for us."

Since they were now staying for two weeks, Lily added their textbooks into their trunks, much to James' dismay. To pass the time Lily and James played Exploding Snap in the common room and at ten thirty, Lily and James begun their trek, levitating their trunks in front of them, to the Entrance Hall. Professor Ollivander was waiting by the large wooden doors that led to the front courtyard.

"Evans, Potter," she greeted, "Just waiting for three more."

"Hi," Lily said, "Who else are we waiting for?"

"The Blake's are heading home today as well."

James nodded knowingly but Lily looked clueless so James quickly explained that it was the youngest Blake sibling who was killed the previous night.

"That's horrible!" Lily said outraged, in her grief she'd forgotten about the latest attack. "That poor family."

James agreed as they saw three very stony faced students walk towards them, the largest one levitating all three trunks. The Blake's were well talked about in Hogwarts because all four siblings were muggle-born and quite talented at that. The three boys were all on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. It was quite rare. The three boys were wearing black muggle clothes and wore their school robes open. All three had bloodshot, puffy eyes.

Lily nudged James to stop staring as Professor Ollivander led the five of them out of the school grounds. They all managed to squish onto one carriage and they were at the station with five minutes to spare. Ollivander quickly levitated all the luggage onto the train and bid farewell.

The Blake's were quiet and James didn't know what to say to them. He was grateful when Lily slid open a door to an empty compartment and said they should sit in there.

James and Lily settled themselves for the ride as the train started moving towards London. James sat by the window and Lily sat next to him leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Does your mum know about me yet?"

"Yeah, I told her I'm dating the arrogant toerag who actually isn't an arrogant toerag at all."

James smiled and nudged her. "What'd you say about me?"

"I told her that your nice, that you saved my life, that you gave me one of the first best dates ever and that you're dorky."

"I'm not a dork!"

"Of course not," Lily mused. "My sister is going to hate you."

James was a little offended and asked, "Why?"  
"She hates magic. She calls Hogwarts a circus – a muggle festival where unusual people perform tricks," Lily explained.

"Look if she becomes unbearable I'll conjure up a horse to follow her around."

"James!"

"Fine, fine. I'll behave."

"Promise me, no magic when you're around Petunia."

"Do I have to?"

"James!"

"Fine. No magic around Petunia."

"Thank you."

"What's your mum's favourite flower?"

"Take a guess," Lily suggested.

"Lillies?"

"No actually. Her favourite flower would be sunflowers. Why?"

"Just asking."

"I'm hungry."

James digs into his robe pocket and unwraps two sandwiches. "I got them from the kitchens. Thought we might get hungry and doubted the Trolley Lady would be coming today."

"You've just thought of everything today, haven't you?"

"You think us Marauders would get away with half of the things we do if I didn't think of everything?"

Lily grabbed a sandwich and said, "I guess not."

Author's Note:

Hi Everyone, sorry for the late update but as I'm reading through my old chapters, there's a lot of things I want to change and I do have exams at the moment :/

Thanks for reading! Fav/Follow/Review! All is appreciated!

-Natalie xx


	15. Chapter 14: Meet The Parents

Lily and James took the Knight Bus to Cokeworth from Kings Cross Station and after a ride full of whiplash and trying not to fall over, Lily and James were in front of Lily's house. It was just as Lily had remembered it last. It was in the middle of a street with brick terraces all in the same style. The front door was on the right side of the house with a bay window on the left. Gardenias bloomed under the bay window and the grass was muddy from the rain that slashed down.

"How do you remember which one is yours?" James remarked and Lily smiled, before they both made a mad dash to her front door which had a small roof for cover.

Lily rang the door bell, using her other hand to try and fix James' hair. James quickly pulled his wand out and conjured up a small bouquet of sunflowers and white lilies. Lily beamed at him as he stowed his wand away.

Lily's mother opened the door. Her long ginger hair was pulled up in a ponytail and a black bandana was wrapped around her head keeping her hair off her face. Lily could tell her mother had been crying, her eyes weren't red but they were puffy.

"Hi mum," Lily greeted hugging her mum. When she pulled away from her mum she gestured towards James and said, "This is James Potter. My boyfriend."

"Hello Mrs Evans. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said and Lily felt relieved for some reason. He handed Rosie Evans the bouquet of flowers.

"Likewise," Rosie smiled. "Though the circumstances could've been better, John and I are thrilled that Lily's finally found someone. And aren't these just gorgeous. Sunflowers are my favourite you know."

Rosie turned and led them into the house and James turned and winked at Lily, who stifled a giggle. The house was smaller than James was used to. There was a narrow hallway with stairs on the left that led upstairs. On the right there was an archway that led to a medium sized living room and an archway further down that led to the kitchen and dinning area. At the end of the corridor there was a screen door that led to a long and skinny grass yard. The house had simple furniture – a wooden dining and coffee table red couches and vinyl kitchen. There was a fireplace in the living room and the mantelpiece was filled with several photo frames. James walked up to them and when he saw a photo of a small, red headed toddler spraying a small, blonde haired toddler, with a hose, he asked, "Is that you, Lily?"

Lily looked to the photo and laughed. "Yeah with Petunia. I was about, uh, three maybe four – mum! How old was I in this photo?"

Rosie inspected the photo, "Three. Summer of sixty three I believe."

"You were cute," James mused and Lily laughed.

"Is Petunia around, mum?" Lily asked as they sat down on the couches. James noticed everything. The house was clean and neat, not a magazine out of place. The walls had floral wallpaper and the window facing the street was actually a window seat as well.

"She's with Vernon visiting your father at the hospital. She's staying at his parents house tonight to help Marge prepare the bridal shower."

"Bullocks," Lily muttered to James. "She just doesn't want to see me."

James linked his pinky with hers in a comforting gesture.

"So James," Rosie said from the kitchen where she was organising the bouquet into a vase. "Do you have any siblings?"

"No, it's just me though my best mate Sirius might as well be my brother."

"You two are close?"

"Very," James agreed. "He got into a falling out with his parents last year, my parents and I are all he's got."

"And your parents are wizards?"

"Yes ma'm. My parents are, well, more of socialites, I guess. They throw benefits for worthy wizarding causes and now my mum has even started a movement against Voldemort."

"It's good you lot are fighting back against that looney's campaign," Rosie exclaimed and James frowned looking at Lily. She gave him a warning look and mouthed 'shut-up' at him.

"And his dad, was a potioneer before he retired," Lily added and James nodded.

"You know, your daughter beat me in a duel earlier this year? She's quite a smart witch."

"Oh hush, James," Lily said embarrassed, "I've still got a lot to learn."

"Lily's being modest. She encased my head in a pumpkin!"

Rosie laughed in delight and asked, "Did you really?"

Lily shrugged, "It was quite easy really. Your reflexes were quite slow."

"What else have you been learning at school?" Rosie asked and Lily and James started going into detail about Polyjuice Potions and conjuring cats.

"What's your favourite bird, Rosie?"

"Oh, umm, a yellow canary I guess."

"Alright then," James said and Lily rolled her eyes as he pulled his wand out and focused for a few moments. A bird appeared as though it were being drawn into the air. Lily's mum clapped with excitement as Lily conjured a cage around it.

"You didn't even mutter a word!" she exclaimed and Lily laughed and said, "We've been learning how to do spells non-verbally. What do you want to name the bird, mum?"

"It'll stay?"

"It should. Our gift to you," James said.

"I think, I'll name it … Ollie."

The rest of the night went surprisingly well. Rosie absolutely adored James and Lily was feeling better now that she was home. The sleeping arrangements were a little awkward but in the end Rosie agreed it would be best if they just conjured up a mattress in Lily's room for James.

Once Rosie had said goodnight Lily and James went up to Lily's room, levitating their trunks up.

"So I think your mum liked me," James stated and Lily smiled.

"How could she not?"

"So I'm finally going to see Lily Evans bedroom."

"Shut up," Lily said, "And no snooping!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," James said as they reached the top of the stairs. Lily crossed the hall and opened the door to her room.

"Come on, Jems," she said nodding her head towards her room.

In ten minutes they had gotten ready for bed and in another five they had conjured up a double sized mattress which just fit between Lily's bed and desk. Lily made the bed with white sheets and a thick, fleecy red blanket.

"If you get cold, there's another blanket on top of my wardrobe," she said pointing to the wardrobe and sure enough there was a green blanket neatly folded on top of it.

They climbed into their respective beds and after five minutes of silence James broke it.

"So your parents don't know about the war?"

Lily turned over to face James. "I can't bear to tell them. I don't want them to live in fear. So I've just said that he's campaigning."

"That's putting it lightly."

"I know but I don't want them to worry about me."

"They're your parents, Marie."

"I know but there are just some things that you have to protect your parents from."

"Do they know what happened to you a few weeks ago?"

"No and you're not to utter a word!"

"Lily!"

"If my parents knew what was happening they wouldn't let me go back. It's better this way."

James frowned. He wasn't so sure. Parents had the right to know if their kid was in danger. It was their job to protect their kids. Not the other way around.

"Move over," Lily ordered. "I want to sleep with you."

"Lily," James protested, "Your mum is in the other room!"

"We're not doing anything other than sleep. I'll wake up in the morning and move back to my bed so she doesn't notice." Lily climbs under the blanket and snuggles up to James. "Promise."

"When did you become so sneaky?"

"Since I realised life is short … it's so sad about Charlotte Blake, isn't it?"

"It's terrible," James agreed. "Are we visiting your dad tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Mum said she had been at the hospital all day today so I didn't want to make her go back besides we were worn out from the travelling. Better to go tomorrow when I can pull myself together more."

James nodded and they fell into a silence again. It's funny. James Potter had never thought he'd actually be in this position. James Potter had never thought he'd be the one Lily Evans turned to for comfort. That he could be the one to make her laugh when she was upset beyond despair. He never thought Lily Evans would love him but here he was in her room with her lying next to him.

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there'll be a magical way to cure my dad?"

James paused, he had never heard of magic curing muggle diseases. Only muggle sicknesses like the flu and still those remedies were for wizards. He had no idea of the effect they'd have on muggles.

"I don't know, Lils. I think if magic could save muggles who were as sick as your dad, there'd be a lot more muggles still alive."

Lily nodded. "Right. Magic can't bring back the dead."

"He's not gone yet, Lily."

"He will be soon."

James stroked Lily's hair and kissed her forehead lightly. He didn't know what to say to someone who knew their father was going to die. He just hoped that she knew he was there for her. Whatever she wanted, he'd do it. If only to see a glimmer of a smile.

—

It was odd without James and Lily around. He'd expected it with James, he was with James three hundred and sixty-five days of the year but missing Lily surprised him. She was now an irreplaceable part of their group and Sirius wondered when exactly that had happened. Was it when she'd saved James' arse from Azkaban? Was it when she found out all their secrets and swore to keep it? Was it when her and James started dating? Sirius couldn't know, all he did know was that she was a part of them now.

"Mr Black," McGonagall spoke up, "Could you tell me the main risk associated when transfiguring cross-species?"

"The two anatomies of the species need to be compatible, or else accounted for. For example, it's harder to transfigure a warm blooded species with a cold blooded species though not impossible. It would also be harder to transfigure a cross-species of snake and monkey or fly and elephant."

"Excellent," McGonagall praised. "Two points for Gryffindor."

Sirius shrugged and went back to not listening as Professor McGonagall continued her lecture.

"Psst," Peter whispered. "Is James going to be back for the full moon?"

Sirius froze slightly. With Lily's tragedy everyone had forgotten about the full moon which was only a week away but surely James would apparate back for the night. If not, Sirius and Peter would just have to keep Remus company in the Shrieking Shack instead of in the Forbidden Forest as they normally did.

"We'll sort it out," Sirius whispered back.

"Shh," Remus hushed them.

Sirius rolled his eyes but made an effort to pay attention to McGonagall as she explained the theory behind spells capable of transfiguring cross-species. He even wrote down notes from the textbook to owl to James and Lily as they'd need to practice if they wanted to keep up with work whilst they were gone.

"Oi, Black!" Dearborn shouted after him at the end of the lesson as he attempted to leave. He turned as she reached him. "Where's Lily?"

"Why do you care?" he retorted.

"She's our friend," Dearborn said defensively.

"Could've fooled me," Sirius said coolly and he turned back around and walked off, catching up with Remus and Peter.

"Look," she jogged to keep up with them. "Della's been a bit worried. No one can find her."

"Lily?" Remus asked.

"Outstanding observation, Moony."

"Yes, Lily," Ella confirmed. "You know where she is?"

Sirius shook his head at Remus slightly and Remus pursed his lips.

"Lily had a personal matter and has gone home for two weeks."

"Oh," Ella said. "Is everything all right?"

Sirius stopped walking to face her. "You know, for someone who refuses to talk to her, you seem pretty concerned. Perhaps you should owl her," he suggested. "Pete, Remus, lets go — we've that star chart to solve."

"You don't do Astronomy," Ella huffed.

"Never said I did," Sirius agreed. "There are some owls up in the Owlery if you didn't know."

"Obviously I know that."

"Good, then get your butt up there and start writing a letter instead of pestering me."

Sirius walked off, Remus and Peter right on his heels.

"That was rude, Sirius."

"Yeah, she was just worried," Peter added.

Sirius rolled his eyes. If Ella Dearborn was so worried about Lily, she could, like he'd suggested, go to the owlery and send her a letter.

"Yeah, yeah but speaking of owls, we gotta talk to James about the upcoming time of the month."

"Oh. _Oh!_ " Remus paled. "It's okay I can do this month alone."

"Absolutely not," Sirius said immediately. "If James can't get away from Cokeworth, we'll just stay in the shack."

"You'll get hurt," Remus protested. "You and James manage all right together but we've never done it with only one of you and James' is a larger animal than you."

Sirius yawned. "That's why I said we'll stay in the shack. We might get a bit banged up but it's nothing we can't handle."

"If Prongs can't make it, we aren't doing this."

"Who's going to stop us?" Sirius challenged. "You'll be transforming."

Remus pursed his lips.

"I'm sure James will be able to apparate here for one night," Peter assured Remus but Remus did not look so sure.

—

Lily woke up feeling disorientated and it took her a moment to figure out why. She felt too high. She sat up in bed and realised James must've gotten up earlier and moved her to her bed. The bed squeaked a little as she peered over the bed to see James' bed empty. She got out of bed and pulled on her old blue robe then headed downstairs. As she walked she could hear James and her mother talking and laughing.

Lily walked into the kitchen to see James cooking breakfast. She was always so use to James stealing food from the kitchen that she hadn't bothered to ask if he could cook.

"Good morning, Lily," her mum greeted. Lily went and gave her mother a quick hug before settling down on the table next to her.

"What are you making, James?"

"Just eggs and bacon."

Something seemed slightly off about the scene. Lily and her mother were sitting down, James was behind the stove and there were dishes from last night washing themselves in the sink!

"You're going to spoil my mother with all this magic, James!" Lily laughed.

"Oh hush," Rosie said, "How come you never do this stuff for me?"

Lily shrugged, "Tuney's always around and you know she doesn't like it when I do magic."

"Oh darling, I think you put too much consideration towards your sister and between you and me, she doesn't deserve half of it. This is your house too. You can do any magic you like especially if it helps me with housework."

Lily smiled and said, "Sure mum. When are we leaving for the hospital?"

"We are leaving in an hour."

—

Marlene wasn't the type to wander around the corridors on her own, or maybe she was but she'd just been too scared to, either way, she found herself alone on the sixth floor, wandering and it was all because of Nathaniel McKinnon. He'd told her Mia Scott had broken up with him, and whilst Marlene had never been fond of their relationship, she found herself elated at the news and then she decided she was a terrible friend because Nate was in pain and she was happy.

Then she started thinking about all her friends, in particular Lily. Guilt rose up in her at the slight mention of Lily. She had never imagined that this fight would go on so long and maybe she was a terrible friend for not being the bigger person. Sirius Black certainly thought so. He'd said us much to Ella yesterday and he'd said it to her once before as well but could Sirius Black really be the best judge of character? Kind to only those he was friends with, stand-offish with everyone else, downright cruel to Slytherins. No, he wasn't the best person but maybe that made him an even better judge of character because if Sirius Black with all his faults thought she was a terrible friend, then she'd probably done something wrong and she was ready to admit that she'd taken it too far with Lily. Lily had been pulling away but they shouldn't have shoved her out the door.

That didn't help much with her situation with Nate however because she was _glad_ , happy even, that his relationship with Mia Scott had ended and it was even more terrible because Scott had been attacked a few weeks ago and that was probably the reason she'd broken up with him. But she couldn't help it. Nate deserved better than some little fifth year girl.

"What are you doing, Reg?"

Marlene paused, that was Sirius' voice.

"None of your business," Avery sneered back. "Run along, Black. We'll take care of your brother."

Walk away, Marlene begged in her head knowing it was futile. Sirius Black never stood down from a fight, especially if it involved his brother. She gripped her wand, pulling it out of her pocket.

"Reg, let's go," Sirius ordered.

"So now you want to be my brother?" Regulus Black retorted. "No, thanks, I'd rather stay with my true friends."

Marlene leaned slightly around the corner and cursed, the situation was worse than she'd thought. Sirius stood facing his brother, Snape, Mulciber and Avery flanking him.

"And _Snivellus_ is your true friend, is he?" Sirius bit back. "Come on, Reg — you're smart, I know you are so I know you know that they mess around in dark magic. Do you really want to go down that path?"

"That's subjective — all magic can be used for the wrong reasons, doesn't make it dark," Regulus said.

Sirius laughed bitterly. "Who are you kidding? Even Bella doesn't believe that! Why do you think Andy left?"

"She wanted to be a blood traitor, that was her choice."

Sirius laughed again. "Always so naive. Andy didn't leave because of Ted! Andy left because her sisters were getting mixed up with the dark arts. She'd been looking for a way out for a long time so don't delude yourself with that subjective nonsense. Dark magic is dark magic!"

"Is Remus dark then?" Regulus asked quietly.

Marlene held back a gasp when she heard the sound of knuckles meeting bone and no sooner than Regulus exclaimed, "You broke my nose!" did Marlene hear the first hex being thrown.

" _Furnunculus_!"

" _Sectumsempra_!"

" _Protego!_ Did you know, little brother, that sectumsempra is the very spell being used to attack muggle-borns in our school?"

" _Deprimo_ ," Snape's voice shouted and there was a cracking noise, Sirius yelped, his wand falling out of his hand.

Marlene steeled herself before throwing herself into the corridor, summoning Sirius' wand before they could get to it, she shot hex after hex at the group, landing a petrifying spell on Snape before he could fracture another one of Sirius' bones.

"Can you walk?" she muttered to Sirius who nodded. "Let's go." She handed him his wand and he took it with his non-dominant hand and turned back to Regulus.

"You can still back out," Sirius pleaded. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"That's just the thing, brother. I want to do this. I went to them."

Sirius shook his head but let Marlene lead him away, down the corridor she'd come from.

"That was incredibly stupid, you know," Marlene told him as they walked. "Show me your hand."

"Remus will fix it up for me," he brushed off, but he held his slightly deformed hand out for her anyways.

Marlene rolled her eyes, and tapped her wand to his hand. Slowly, the bones cracked back into place and Sirius closed and opened his hand to test it.

"Didn't know you were any good at healing spells," he commented.

Marlene shrugged. "Is that your version of a 'thank you'?"

"I didn't need your help."

"Seemed like you did. Maybe call James for back-up next time you want to take on your brother and his mates."

Sirius scowled. "They aren't his mates and James is away."

"With Lily?"

Sirius shrugged so Marlene took that as a yes. She wondered what personal matter of Lily's could have both of them leaving the castle. Perhaps Petunia's wedding but last Marlene knew that was happening in January and she didn't think McGonagall would allow both head students leave for a wedding.

"What were you doing up here alone anyways?" Sirius asked. "You know the castle isn't safe."

Marlene shrugged. "I was thinking about things."

"Uh-huh. Well, as interesting as that sounds, I'm going to leave you to it." And he disappeared behind a tapestry she hadn't even known had a secret passage.

—

Lily was standing in front of the hospital with her mother and boyfriend. She didn't want to go inside because if she did that would make it true. It would mean her dad really was dying. Up until now she'd pushed it to the back of her mind. She told herself that she was just introducing her boyfriend to her mother. No big deal, she had told herself. But now walking into the grim hospital where people came to die, she could feel her heart beat in her chest.

James linked his little finger with hers and they walked in behind Rosie.

"James," she whispered, "I'm scared."

James looked at her and whispered, "It'll be okay."

Lily knew that it wouldn't. Nothing would be okay. Her father was dying and despite her abilities she was powerless against it.

Lily thought the hospital was a horrible place. It was all white, too clean and smelt like old people. In her opinion it was a horrible place to die, mediocre even. Lily always hated the idea of dying in a hospital. She had always thought that if she could choose how to die, that she'd want it to mean something. Like dying in a war or sacrificing yourself for another but deep down she knew that she was silly for romanticising something like that. Death is death and whatever the cause of it, it was still horrible and nasty.

"Why don't you go in first, Lily?" her mother suggested. "We'll wait out here for a bit. You can tell dad that someone's here to meet him. He'll be thrilled!"

Lily flashed a weak smile and nodded. James gave her a look of encouragement that told Lily that she could do this. She could be there for her dad. He wasn't dead yet. She pushed open the door and walked in.

Her father was lying down in the creaky, metal framed hospital bed and propped up by two pillows.

"Lily, is that you?" he asked and Lily swallowed back the tears at the sight of her father. He looked so different from when she left him two and a half months ago. He'd lost so much weight that his face looked gaunt and pulled back. His frame looked too small under the blanket – not the same man who use to throw Lily over his shoulder when she was being cheeky.

"Hi, dad!" Lily greeted, swooping down and planting a kiss on his forehead. "How are you?"

"Fit as a fiddle, darling."

Lily laughed at her father's insistence that nothing was wrong. She grabbed his hand.

"I've brought someone for you to meet," Lily told him. His eyes lit up.

"Potter?"

"Does mum tell you everything?" Lily giggled and her dad said, "Afraid so. Well what are you waiting for? Bring him in then. I want to meet this young fellow!"

"Are you sure you're strong enough? We can come back tomorrow. I don't want you getting exhausted."

"I'm fine, Lily. Now bring the fellow in before I croak!"

"Dad!"

"I'm joking," he insisted and Lily shook her head. Her father always did have insensitive humour. At Grandma Ellie's funeral, he cracked funeral puns the whole day. Her mother was quite furious with him but Lily knew it was just his defence mechanism.

Lily went and told James and her mother to come in. James waited until Rosie had kissed her husband hello before introducing himself with a light handshake. Lily noticed how her father's hand shook the whole time. Another reminder of his frailty.

"I heard you're dating my daughter," Johnathan accused.

"Yes, sir."

"Now don't go breaking her heart or I might have to come back to the land of the living to haunt you."

"I wouldn't want to mess with your afterlife," James said lightly and whilst Lily and Rosie rolled their eyes the boys laughed at the joke.

At lunchtime the doctors came and they talked Lily through what was happening to her dad. His cancer had spread so much that his organs were slowly shutting down and they believed he only had a few days to live as his kidneys had already begun to shut down. Lily went to the bathroom afterwards and cried for ten minutes before she went back to his room with a smile on her face.

"Show me some magic, Lily," her father requested.

Lily hesitated, "Dad we're in a hospital full of muggles."

"Come on, Lils," James urged with a sly wink, "We'll lock the door." James flicked the lock and said, "See?"

Lily smirked and said, "All right dad. What would you like to see? I can encase James' head in a pumpkin if you'd like."

"One time that happened," James shook his head and Lily stuck her tongue out at him. "Can you do a Patronus charm?" James asked Lily and she nodded. "Why don't we show him that?" They pulled their wands out of their pockets.

"They are quite pretty, aren't they?"

James agreed and on the count of three they both exclaimed, " _Expecto patronum!"_ Immediately silver-blue light emitted from their wands. Lily's formed into a doe whilst James' turned into a magnificent stag. Lily looked at the patronuses in wonder. They matched! A doe and a stag. She looked at James and noticed that he had a dumbstruck look on his face too. She linked her little finger with his and smiled. They sent the doe and the stag galloping around the room for a few minutes and Lily's parents eyes were wide with amazement. Lily laughed at them – if only they could see Hogwarts, she thought to herself. For the next hour, Lily and James showed her parents as much magic as they could – they transformed the furniture, conjured birds, charmed objects to fly, painted flowers onto the walls and made themselves invisible. There was a knock at the door so Lily and James undid their magic and stowed their wands away before Lily unlocked the door. The nurse was here with her dad's afternoon medicines.

"Is it that time already?" Rosie sighed. "We best be off. We'll be back tomorrow."

Johnathan nodded and they all said their goodbye's before leaving. At home James insisted on making dinner so Lily and Rosie sat and watched. Rosie was amazed at how James never had to look for anything, just a flick of his wand and a draw would open and a knife would zoom out. Or how the pots stirred themselves.

Half way through cooking, an owl appeared at the window. Lily recognised it as one of the school's barn owls. She opened the window and grabbed the letter out of it's beak. It was addressed to her and James.

She opened it and read out loud, " _Prongs and Lily, hope you're doing well. Prongs I hope you haven't been a git in front of Rosie and Johnathan. And stop being a show off_!" Lily laughed. " _I've attached homework from our classes_. Scrivens wants us to write a twenty inch essay on dementors!"

"From Padfoot?" James asked and Lily nodded.

"And McGonagall wants us to write an essay on Metamorphmagus! Sirius says we're going to be taught how to transfigure our appearance!"

"That's brilliant! I can make Sirius look like an old man!"

Lily shook her head. "We're going to miss so much school work."

"We'll catch up. Sirius will help."

Lily frowned.

"It really is amazing what you learn at school, Lily," Rosie gushed.

The rest of the night was filled with James telling Rosie stories about Hogwarts and the wizarding world with Lily adding input here and there but mostly she just enjoyed listening to James talk.

—

James had been surprised how easy it was to impress Lily's parents and was even more surprised at their easy and welcoming acceptance of him. He had been sure that Lily had been serious when she'd said she may have to her parents that James Potter was an arrogant toerag but her parents seemed un-phased by Lily's change of heart if that had been the case. Truth be told James wondered if they would be as welcoming and accepting of James had there not been more pressing issues on their minds such as Lily's father's imminent death. Lily assured James that her parents adored him – she admitted, reluctantly, that her mother had called James a 'charmer'. She regretted it instantly as James used it against her every time they were alone and having a squabble. "Now, now Lily," he'd say, "Surely you aren't accusing a _charmer_ like me?" when Lily's Arithmacy textbook went missing (Lily proceeded to throw a well aimed hairbrush at his head – he ducked and it hit Lily's wardrobe leaving a dent to Lily's dismay).

They'd been staying at Lily's house for four days when the hospital called at an unusual time – not late enough for them to be panicked but late enough in the afternoon that Rosie thought it odd that someone would be calling – and had informed her that the time was here. He was at his final hours and has been requesting to see his family.

There was a mad rush to the hospital – Lily barely let go of James's hand the whole time and stayed quiet. Rosie had lost all composure and could barely pay the taxi driver – James had to take over, "Here, I'll do it," he had said taking the money off of Rosie, and he had quite the trouble figuring out the muggle currency but eventually he got it.

Rosie went in first and came out tearful. James had never seen such sorrow on a woman's face before. Her eyes looked glazed, her eyes and nose both red from the tissue scrunched in her hand and her mouth tight lipped barely opening when she announced that he wanted James and Lily to go in together.

Lily's gripped tightened on James' hand and he gave it an encouraging squeeze before leading her into the hospital room.

"How's my favourite Lily?" her dad croaked from the bed and Lily finally started to cry. She went over and sat on the bed, letting go of James' hand and grabbing her father's. James stood at the end of the bed, trying to give Lily the space she needed to say goodbye.

"Oh dad!" she wailed and he patted her hand.

"Now, now what have I said about tears?"

"Today's an exception," she sniffed. "You're leaving us."

"We've known that now for quite some time."

Lily shook her head and wiped a tear away and cried, "It doesn't make this any easier!"

"I know but you have to be strong for your mum and for Petunia. Make sure she gets married in January!"

Lily nodded, "I will."

"And make sure you do well at school. You've always said how important these last exams are don't let me distract you from them. I'll be gone and there'll be nothing to change that okay? So grieve and then live your life."

Lily nodded again. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

Her dad held a shaky, frail arm out and Lily leaned down to give her dad a hug. James thought Lily was never going to let go but Johnathan tapped Lily's back and said, "Okay now, go check on your mother. I want a quick private word with James."

James was taken aback. He'd only known the man for a few days. What could he possibly want to tell James on his deathbed? Even Lily looked a little surprised and when James cocked his head slightly at her she slyly shrugged her shoulders. Lily planted a light kiss on her father's head and then went outside the room with Rosie.

"Come sit," Johnathan said gesturing to the chair next to his bed. James moved quickly and sat in the chair. "I know I've only known you four days and that your relationship with Lily is quite new but sometimes a parent just knows."

James drew in his eyebrows a little. What did Lily's dad know? Johnathan grabbed a small red box from under his bed sheets where it was hiding out of sight and handed it to James.

James opened it and saw a white gold banded ring with a circle, medium sized diamond in it. The band surrounding the diamond was intricately designed and sported smaller diamonds.

"It was Lily's grandmother's – my mother's – wedding ring. My dad and her were married for almost sixty years but unfortunately they passed on about five years ago within months of each other. Lily loves this ring, she use to steal it off Nana's bedside table just to wear it and try it on.

"I know marriage probably is a long, long thought away in your mind, James. You and Lily are still so young. But sometimes a parent just knows. When you are ready to get married I hope you'll use that ring so that a part of me can be with her always. Until then, keep it safe. And make sure she doesn't find it," he winked.

"How can you know?" James asked. He was surprised at how much Lily's father seemed to guess over the last few days, because James had every intention of marrying Lily when the time came. It was just last night when James and Lily were washing dishes – the muggle way – and the thought had crossed his mind that he could do this for the rest of his life.

"You and Lily may have only been dating for a month but you have known each other for almost seven years, James. Lily has never brought home a boyfriend apart from yourself and she did it even under these circumstances. There's no doubt in my mind that her feelings for you are very, very deep."

"You're very perceptive," James commented and Johnathan laughed.

"I just know Lily. Promise me you won't let her get too upset. Show her that she can still laugh and have fun in a world without me in it."

"I'll do my best," James promised. "It may take some time though. She's losing a pretty great dad."

"Thank you, James. Can you send in Petunia and Vernon, please?"

James nodded and he placed the small box inside his coat pocket.

"I'm sorry … that this is happening to you. If there was any way we could have fixed this, I would've done it but as my dad always says, even magic has its limits."

Johnathan just waved a hand and said, "Just look after my little girl." James hovered for a moment before leaving the room. He saw Lily standing on her own, leaning against a wall. Rosie was hugging a bony woman with blonde, curly hair. She had sharp blue eyes and they were a little red. James assumed this was Lily's sister, Petunia. She was wearing an ugly, salmon pink skirt suit.

There was a man standing slightly to the side of them was a puffy man. He had a neatly combed over hair and was wearing an ugly brown, sweater vest thing. James was correct in guessing that this was Petunia's fiancé, Vernon.

"What did dad want?" Lily asked James with a sniff.

"He wanted me to send Petunia and Vernon in."

Lily went over to her family and informed Petunia and Vernon that their dad wished to speak to them. She came back to where James was standing, James held an arm open and she fit herself nicely under it, leaning her head on his chest and grabbing the hand that was hanging over her shoulder.

Petunia and Vernon came out. Tears running down her face, she shook her head and everyone knew. Johnathan Evans was no longer with them.

X

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 _A/N: Hi everyone, sorry for the late update! Enjoy! Review, Fav, Follow! Thanks for reading!_

 _-Natalie x_


	16. Chapter 15: The Muggle Supremacist

The two weeks flew by. One minute they were arriving, the next they were performing magic for her dad, the next she was saying her last goodbye. Then she was planning a funeral and then James was holding her up as her dad was lowered into the ground. Life went by so fast, Lily mused as they flicked through pages of photos wondering how she'd gotten here. Petunia used to hug Lily all the time, the photos were proof of that — a fuzz of blonde hair attacking a fuzz of red hair — and now, Lily barely remembered the last time they'd had a proper conversation.

Petunia sat in the armchair, reading a cheesy romance novel that Lily only hated because Petunia chose to read it instead of look through old photos with her and James. She was avoiding any and all contact with Lily as possible which Lily found quite ridiculous because their dad had just died and they were the only two people in the world who knew exactly how the other was feeling. Lily had hoped that Petunia could set aside her prejudices just for a moment so they could remember their dad together.

She slipped a photo out of the pocket sleeve; Petunia held a hose in her hands, aimed at Lily as water spurted out. It had been their dad's favourite photo because he managed to catch the moment just before the jet of water hit Lily and her eyes were squeezed shut as she anticipated the jet of cool water hitting her. Lily moved the album onto James' lap and stood up, kneeling next to Petunia as she slipped the photo onto her book.

"I am reading, Lily," Petunia said curtly but her eyes took the photo in.

"It was dad's favourite," Lily said softly with a sly smile. "You completely drenched me that day, do you remember?"

"Of course I remember," she snapped. "Mum was furious with me because you were wearing a nice dress."

"Why do you resent me so much?" Lily asked with a sigh. "I try and I try and I try," she whispered. "But you, you just don't," Lily shook her head and stood up, taking the photo back. "You don't give me a branch."

Lily inspected the photo again. They used to be so happy. They used to be sisters. Lily wasn't quite sure what their relationship was but it was too cold to be considered something as personal as sisters, or even, Lily realised sadly, friends. They were mere acquaintances who only put up with each other because they had to, like the annoyed employee who have to be super nice to a customer who always comes in asking the same questions because their boss is there.

"You can be maid of honour," Petunia said softly and Lily turned to face her again, shocked.

"What?"

"In the wedding, you can be maid of honour," she repeated.

Lily's eyes widened in happiness, a smile on her lips, "Oh, Tuney!" Maybe they weren't so doomed after all. "Thank you!"

"What's this I hear?" Rosie called from the kitchen. "Lily's maid of honour?"

She walked into the living room, wiping her hand on a dish towel and Lily nodded. "Tuney just asked me."

Tears pricked in Rosie's blue eyes, "Oh, that's just simply wonderful! Oh, before you leave you must sit down and discuss things about the wedding!"

"Vernon wants to be very involved," Petunia told her mother.

"Oh," Rosie was quiet for a moment, "I've got it!" she exclaimed. "A double date. All four of you should go out for a nice dinner in town!"

"Oh, uh, mum," Lily backed up. Yes, she had wanted a branch, but with her sister not with Vernon freaking Dursley. "I don't think — James and I have a tonne of work that needs to get done before we leave for school again and-"

But her mother wasn't listening as she dabbed at her tears with the dish towel, "Your father would've been so happy to finally see his girls' getting along. Oh, I'm going to blubber."

Petunia and Lily glanced at each other. "I guess dinner in town could be nice," Lily amended.

"Fine."

—

Ella and Marlene sat at the Gryffindor table waiting for the right moment. Black had been a dead end that had succeeded in making them feel worse about their behaviour the last couple of weeks so now they'd have to go for a weaker link, meaning either Remus or Peter. The problem was, getting them alone without Black.

The seventh year girls had decided, unanimously, that it was time to make up with Lily. Only problem was, they didn't know why she'd gone home for two weeks and Ella didn't like the idea of sending a letter. The things that needed to be said couldn't be said through a letter, it was like taking the easy way out.

"They're like a pack of wolves," Marlene muttered. "I mean seriously? Does Black not have other friends?"

Ella pursed her lips. "All right, I'm gonna take one for the team."

"What?"

"I'm going to distract Black, you go talk to Remus and Peter."

"By myself?" Marlene asked with wide eyes.

Ella glared at her. "You can handle Lupin and Pettigrew." With that she strode away and up to the three boys. "Wotcher, boys. Mind if I have a word Black?"

All three of them turned to peer at her. "Did you send an owl to Lily yet?"

Ella scowled. "None of your business."

"Then you can't have a word."

"It'll only take a minute — it's about homework for transfiguration."

"So ask away. Pete and Remus won't judge," Sirius assured her.

"I, uh, would rather say in private."

"Uh-huh. Do you think I'm a moron, Dearborn? You and Adams have been stalking us the entire day. I know that as soon as I leave Adams is gonna come over here to try and weasel answers out of Remus and Peter about Lily."

Ella narrowed her eyes. "We've not been stalking!"

"Adams is literally watching us with wide eyes, right now," Lupin pointed out.

"She looks about ready to jump out of her seat," Peter agreed.

Ella scowled. "Why won't you just tell us?"

"I can show you to the owlery, if you want?" Sirius suggested. "But it's fairly easy to find, even Peter knows where it is."

"Oi!"

"Sorry, mate but you have to admit, your sense of direction is questionable."

Ella rolled her eyes. "I hate the lot of you."

"Uh-huh," Sirius agreed and then shouted after her as she turned and walked away, "The owlery, Dearborn!"

She flipped him off and plonked back down next to Marlene.

"How long should we look sulky for?" Marlene asked quietly.

"A couple minutes."

Marlene nodded and then sighed. "Can't believe they won't tell us why she's left!"

"They're toerags," Ella agreed. "Go to the owlery, ha, I'll freaking shove an owl up his arse — well I would if I wouldn't feel so sorry for the bloody owl."

Marlene stifled a giggle. "Come on." She grabbed her arm and lifted Ella out as they strode out of the Great Hall almost colliding with Adaline and Alice in the Entrance Hall.

"Well?" Marlene asked.

"Lily's dad died."

—

Lily and James lay in bed that night, the covers pulled over their heads and a wand lit dimly so they could see each other's faces. Lily marvelled at James — he wasn't wearing his glasses — and it spooked her out a little. He always wore his glasses. She traced the spot on his nose where the glasses usually sat and said, "I miss him."

He tugged her closer, kissing her nose. "I know."

Lily tickled the scruff on his chin, "You need to shave."

"You don't like the stubble?"

"Maybe when it grows on the rest of your jaw and not just your chin," she suggested.

"You never complained before summer," he whispered.

"I wasn't your girlfriend then."

"Lily." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow that said, _come on, out with it_. _Why do you really want me to shave off my pathetic excuse for stubble?_

"Vernon will think you're scummy if you have an unshaven face," she admitted. James gawked. "I'm sorry but I just want the dinner to go smoothly and I want them to like you."

"What's not to like, I'm a charmer," he winked and Lily giggled.

"You're not going to let that one go, are you Jems?"

"Never, my Marie. And you shouldn't worry to much about the dinner. It's one dinner, three hours. What could possibly go wrong in three hours whilst eating food?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, "You do know that in Fourth Year you set the Slytherin table on fire at the Halloween Feast?" Lily asked.

James grinned, "Those were the days," he agreed. "But I am mature," — Lily snorted — "Now and I think I can handle dinner. I'll be on my best behaviour."

"Promise?"

"I promise to try," he amended and Lily rolled her eyes but accepted. It was good enough. She kissed him before shuffling in close to his chest, breathing in sage and cedar and her mother's flowery detergent. "Goodnight, Lily."

"G'night," Lily murmured closing her eyes, James stroking her hair softly and slowly. "Love you," she mumbled into his chest.

—

"Her dad died," Marlene reiterated to Nate. "And we didn't even know he'd been sick!"

They were sitting outside in the courtyard, shoulder to shoulder. Marlene's head rested on Nate's shoulder as he read some book.

"You guys were fighting," he reminded her.

"No, we cut her off — I mean she cut us off first but then she was ready to tell us everything and then we cut her off because we were mad."

"You were being stupid," Nate corrected.

"Nate!" she whined. "You're supposed to be making me feel better."

"No, you're supposed to be making _me_ feel better. One broken heart right here."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Oh please, that little fifth year didn't break your heart. You're ego's just hurt that a fifth year dumped you."

"Marly!" he whined.

"Nope, you can't deny it," she said firmly. "I refuse to believe you deeply cared for a fifth year. I mean seriously, Nate? A fifth year?"

"You really like pointing out that she was a fifth year."

"Yes because you were moronic."

"And who else am I supposed to date?"

"People who aren't fifth years."

"Oh, so fourth years? You know, Selene Brandon keeps giving me the eye."

Marlene laughed. "If you go out with a fourth year, I'm telling your sister."

"Well then, who am I supposed to go out with?"

"Me." The word was out of her mouth before she could stop it. She hated that about her mouth, it spoke without being told to.

"All right then," Nate said. "Fancy a date to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Marlene giggled. "Wait, what? You can't be serious."

"Well," Nate considered, "Why not?"

"We've been friends forever, firstly!"

"Exactly, you can't say that you've never thought about what it would be like to kiss me."

Marlene burst out laughing, throwing her head back and drawing her knees to her chest as laughter spilled out. "I don't know," she admitted, "Maybe once or twice."

"That's it? We've been friends since we were born!"

"Well, how many times have you thought about kissing me?"

"I don't know, more than once or twice," he admitted.

Marlene looked at Nate. He'd grown out of his awkward stage with a short layer of stubble and his mousy brown locks swept across his forehead. She'd never admit it but whenever she thought about her future, the future where she's married, living in her own house with kids, she's imagined Nate beside her. She'd always thought that it was because he was her best friend and he was a guy and that another guy would come in and take the place for himself but for as long as Marlene could remember, the spot remained filled by Nate.

"One date but if it goes terribly we agree to forget about it and never talk about it again," she said quickly.

"Best mates first," Nate agreed.

"Okay, so Hogsmeade but not this week because operation make up with Lily is a go."

Nate laughed. "I would never dream of interfering with your plans to ambush Lily as soon as she steps off the train."

—

James and Lily were in the back seat of the cab being driven to a local restaurant where they would be meeting up with Petunia and Vernon, who were driving from Vernon's house. Lily had thought it would make sense for them to all go together in Vernon's car but Petunia had disagreed.

"Please try not to talk too much about what we are and what we do," Lily pleaded. "They won't like that."

"Why are you so worried about her opinion of you? You keep trying to be someone you're not to get her approval."

Lily shook her head, "You don't understand. She takes what we are as an offence. Imagine," Lily paused trying to think of a way to explain what she meant so James could understand. "Imagine sitting down for dinner with pure-blood supremacists. Sort of like how Narcissa Black glares at muggle-borns as though a horrid smell was coming off them."

"So what your saying is your sister is a muggle supremacist?"

Lily thought about it for a moment and said, "Yes. If this were the sixteenth century, she'd hand us in to be burned at the stake. Would probably light the fire herself."

James laughed lightly at Lily's comparison not taking her seriously and Lily frowned. He'd know soon enough, she thought to herself.

The restaurant was crowded and it took a moment for Lily to spot her sister sitting in the far left corner in a booth. James grabbed Lily's hand as she led him to the table.

"Hi Petunia, Vernon," Lily greeted as Lily and James sat on the opposite side of the booth. Lily got in first so she was sitting opposite Petunia and James was opposite Vernon, who was looking at James with great dislike. "This is James Potter. My boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you," James said politely holding a hand out to Vernon. Vernon looked at his hand disgustingly and only when Lily looked at him pointedly did he shake James' hand and reluctantly said, "And you."

"So you two go to school together?" Petunia asked and Lily nodded.

"What do you do Vernon?" James asked trying to move the conversation along. James couldn't help but be patronisingly interested in what, to James, seemed like the most boring job. It sounded more boring than sitting through a History of Magic lesson with Professor Binns droning on unaware that he was slowly putting each of his students into a slow sleep.

Vernon didn't seem to appreciate this and retaliated with, "I guess you lot live off the unemployment benefit."

"Uh no, we have jobs over on our side," Lily said.

"Yeah my family have made quite the fortune. Our vault at Gringott's – I'll have to show you one day Lily – is filled with galleons."

"Of what?" Vernon spluttered.

"Wizard money," James said and Vernon's eyes looked as though they were going to fall out. Lily nudged James and he realised he was smirking slightly. Trying to explain better James added, "We have solid gold, er, sort of like, what did you call them Lils?"

"Coins."

"Yes! Coins but fairly fatter and larger."

"You have a vault full of gold. What nonsense is this?" he muttered to Petunia. "And what the ruddy hell is Grin Got?"

"No need to get agitated, buddy. I'll answer any questions you have about the magical world. _Gringott's_ is the wizarding bank. Goblin's guard it. You know, I've heard some of the top security vaults have a dragon guarding them."

"Really?" said Lily perking up immediately and turning to James. "A dragon? In the middle of London? I wonder how they managed that one."

"Well it's all underground, isn't it?" James shrugged. "Maybe they apparated it there."

"You know very well an animal of that size can't be transported like that!" Lily said laughing then she realised, when he cracked a smirk, that he was only trying to wind her up.

Petunia coughed loudly and Lily flinched slightly.

"Right," Lily said, "What were we talking about?"

"Dragons in Gringott's," James said and Lily nudged him and decided to change the topic by asking Petunia how the wedding plans were coming along.

"Fine," Petunia said stiffly. "We're thinking of moving the wedding to summer since dad…"

"Petunia, you know dad, he would've wanted you to get married in January. He wouldn't want you to post pone it just because of what happened."

Petunia rolled her eyes, "How would you know what he wanted? You were barely around – off at the circus! Don't lecture me about dad!"

Lily stiffened and James had an angry look on his face he was about to open his mouth but Lily grabbed his hand and shook her head.

"Mum said that you, er, Vernon got a new car last month?" Lily tried again for another conversation but James was starting to see why Lily didn't want to attend this dinner. Petunia and Vernon were the most close-minded people he had ever met.

Vernon started boasting about his new car – James had absolutely no clue what he was on about – and ended his monologue about his car with, "What car do you drive, James?"

"I've got the latest broomstick – a Nimbus '77! It's superb! Goes from naught to sixty miles in ten seconds and a great new breaking charm, barely any drag!" he said, unaware that Vernon and Petunia were looking at James as though he were a different species. "Only the best broom in the market at the moment! Davidson from the Appleby Arrows is trying to get management to splurge on them since the Tornadoes _and_ Falcons both got them and-" James glanced at Lily to see her pinching her nose. He bit his lip.

"What nonsense are you on about?" Vernon spat and James couldn't help it, he laughed nervously glancing at Lily, which made Vernon Dursley even angrier. His face had turned bright red and resembled a tomato. James had never seen a man get so angry over something as simple as describing a broomstick. Truth be told, he found it amusing.

"I will not sit here and be made fun of!" Vernon demanded slapping his hand on the table.

"Woah!" Lily said. "He isn't making fun of you, you asked him what car he had, he took that to mean transport. It just so happens that James does fly a Nimbus '77 and it is the best broom on the market. He was simply answering a question."

"It wasn't the answer Vernon wanted!" Petunia snapped.

"When are you going to stop living in denial about what I am, Petunia? I'm a witch and James is a wizard! Our money is solid gold and we put it in the bank guarded by goblins! We fly brooms! We have wands! We have jobs! The magic world is a whole community but you're just too ignorant to see that. You think we're just a bunch of mad delinquents! There is a whole other world outside the uptight, muggle one you seem to want to live in, if only you'd open your eyes to see it."

"We will not be talked to like that!" Vernon puffed. "You are a bunch of abnormal freaks who are deluded to believe in magic!"

"Can I hex him, please?" James asked Lily. "Then he'll see how _deluded_ we are in believing in what we are!"

"James no!" Lily cried as he pulled out his wand. Vernon and Petunia who had had enough stood up and walked out of the restaurant, noses in the air and then Lily burst into tears.

"Oh, shit," James exclaimed, "Merlin, I'm sorry. I-"

"Why did you have to goad them? I told you not to talk about our world!" Lily cried, "And now everything's ruined."

Lily wiped her tears away with the ball of her palm. "I know," James said quietly, "I'm sorry … but they were treating you like you were less than them and you're not. Our world isn't bad," — Lily scoffed — "Sure we're in a tough spot now, with the war but our world, Lily, our world is like none other and that doesn't make it bad and you don't deserve to be treated that way just because you are a part of that world."

"But I _told_ you! I specifically told you not to talk about magic and you just did it anyways!"

James sighed in shame, his shoulders slumping, "I know. I'm sorry," he repeated. "I promise I'll try to make it up with them as soon as possible."

"You will?" Lily sniffed, looking at James and he nodded.

"Anything for you, Marie." He tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"I'm glad you're here, Jems," Lily murmured.

"Even if I ruined everything?"

"Even if you ruined everything," she agreed and then they fell silent for a moment, staring into space until Lily broke the silence. "We should gift them something really horrible for their wedding."

"Perhaps a garden gnome," James suggested. "Or a dragon egg or something – maybe we could get one off Hagrid. I reckon he'd get us one."

Lily giggled, "We could get them a moving portrait of some famous, old bloke."

"I think they'd love Sir Cadogan. I'm sure McGonagall would let us take him. It is for a gift after all."

"Hmm, maybe we should grow a small Whomping Willow? I'd like to see them deal with that."

Lily rung a finger in the gap between her navy blue scarf and neck, the room was warm and it was starting to become unbearably warm in it. James tugged the end. "You should take your scarf off," he told her, "It's pretty warm in here and your cheeks are flushed." He pressed his fingers onto Lily's burning cheek and Lily leaned into his hand, kissing it. His hand reached out, to pull the scarf off from around her neck and she flinched back, shaking her head.

"I'm not wearing anything to cover the scar."

James didn't drop his hand, instead he wrapped it firmly around the end of her scarf and gently pulled down on it so the scarf fell onto her lap. He moved his other hand from her cheek down to her neck, his fingers gently brushing over the straight, white line that ran across her throat. "You don't need to cover the scar." His eyes were focused on hers.

"It's ugly."

"No," James disagreed as Lily shifted her position so she was leaning partially on his chest, his arm wrapping around her, "It's not."

"I feel like Nearly Headless Nick," she complained.

James chuckled, "I can assure you, you're much prettier and a much better shag I'd imagine."

Lily snorted, "Hmm, I'm so glad I'm dating such a _charmer_ like you." She entwined their fingers together on his knee, turning his hand over and playing with his fingers.

"Awe, thanks! I do think I'm quite the charmer."

Lily laughed, shaking her head, "You're a right old prat, you know that?"

"I love you too, my Marie."

The waitress came around and Lily ordered them a bowl of french fires and a bottle of beer. "We're staying?"

"Merlin no," Lily said, shocked by the thought, "We're just going to have a quick bite and a bit of a pre-drink and then we're heading to Cokeworth Pub to see how many Vodka shots we can hold down."

"Vodka?"

"Muggle alcohol. I wouldn't mind trying tequila either."

"Nothing will beat firewhiskey," James said confidently.

Lily wagged a finger, "Now, now, don't knock it until you've tried it!"

"Sirius sent an owl the other day, I forgot to tell you."

"What did he say?"

James shrugged, "Just the usual. Attached a bunch of homework. Apparently, Peter gave himself an elephant's trunk in Transfiguration."

Lily chuckled, "What was he aiming for?"

"To make his nose a little longer. He overshot just a tad, don't you think?

"Just a tad," agreed Lily. "It's going to be weird, going back."

"How so?"

"Everything will just be different. A little girl was killed, murdered on school grounds," Lily shook her head, "And they haven't the slightest clue who did it."

"Lily, we know it was Snape. It was his spell," James said quietly but before he'd finished Lily already shook her head.

"We still can't be sure that it's him." She knew it wasn't him but she didn't want James to know she'd spoken to Snape on her own, it wouldn't go down well.

"He could have other people doing his dirty work," James suggested.

"Or maybe," said Lily hesitantly, "Maybe he just supplied the spell. Maybe he didn't know what they were going to use it for."

James highly doubted that but he didn't want to make Lily upset so he agreed, "Maybe … but we should still tell the teachers. Even if it wasn't Snape, it's still a lead. He created the spell, he'll know who else knows about it."

"But-"

"We won't tell them that we think it's Snape, we'll just say that he knows the spell so they can at least question him. Figure out if he has alibis, that sort of thing. Just a precautionary measure," James assured her.

Lily resigned, "Fine." She couldn't fight with his logic — he really did think of everything — and they'd be stupid not to tell the teachers about the only student that seemed to know about the spell Lily was attacked with.

Their beer and bowl of chips arrived and they ate, as James told Lily about all the times he'd stolen his dad's wand as a child. Lily's favourite was the rabbit he enlarged to be over five meters long.

"It was honestly bigger than our dining table. Poor Babbity," James sighed. Babbity had been his childhood pet — a chocolate brown rabbit with floppy ears and big round eyes.

"I feel sorry for your mother," Lily declared through fits of giggles as she imagined a huge rabbit hopping along the grass, trying to dig a burrow.

"Oh, believe me so do I! Have I told you about the time when the boys came over for the night and we got sloshed," — "Of course — "Of course," James agreed with a grin before continuing. "And we thought it would be hilarious to to just shift all the furniture a bit to the right. So, my parents were fast asleep and we, in our drunken state mind, shifted all the furniture five inches to the right and I mean, _all the furniture_. The dining table, the stuff in the living room, all the furniture upstairs. The next morning, we wake up with very vague memories of shifting furniture and then my mum and dad proceeded to bump into everything for _days_ all because we thought it would be funny."

Lily shook her head, "Did you at least move the furniture back?"

"Nope, to this day, everything is still five inches to the right," James told her and Lily threw her head back laughing.

"That's amazing!" She popped the last chip into her mouth. "And that's this place done. Let's go get sloshed yeah?"

James kissed her, "Sounds great," he licked his lips and then kissed her again.

"James," she shied away, looking around at the other people in the restaurant.

"It is really not my fault if your lips taste like the chips we just ate!"

Lily giggled and pushed his face away as he tried to get another kiss. She licked her lips and said, "Ha ha! All gone and none for you and you're right. It tasted amazing!"

James pouted as Lily dropped some money onto the table. "I thought you loved me."

"I do, love, just not as much as I love chip seasoning." She patted his cheek. "Now, let's go. Drunk times a wait and if you can do ten Vodka shots in a row without throwing up, I'll give you fifty kisses," she promised.

—

After a tearful goodbye from Lily's mother, they had boarded the train and spent the long ride attempting to catch up on the work they had missed, practicing spells and speed writing essays and copying answers off of each other and the textbooks, arguing when they got different answers.

"Shall we try doing the face transformations?" James asked, "McGonagall suggests starting with the nose."

Lily snorted, "No thanks, I don't want to be stuck with an elephant's trunk for the next three hours."

"I am a transfiguration whiz!"

"You are an animagus," Lily told him, poking his chest, "Doesn't make you a whiz at the entire subject."

"Wanna bet?"

"All right, you're on," she agreed. "I bet you can't properly change your nose and change it back without looking at the textbook."

"If you lose, you have to," James thought for a moment, "You have to do a handstand in the Entrance Hall for an entire minute."

"And if I win you have to talk to Sirius like he's a dog for a day."

"Prepare to lose, Evans."

Lily snorted as James pulled his wand out and pointed it to his nose, "Wait!" Lily called, "You need a mirror," and she quickly conjured one up for him and charmed it to hover in front of him.

"Thanks, love."

He pulled his wand out and muttered the spell, pointing his wand at his nose and Lily's smile grew larger the longer nothing happened and the harder James concentrated. He repeated the spell again and still nothing.

"Ha ha, I win!"

"No - there! It's a little bit shorter!" he insisted but Lily looked at James' nose and-

"Are you an eyeless pixie?" Lily asked, "Because that nose is the exact same bloody length!"

"Is not! You have to do a handstand!"

"Do not! That nose is not shorter!" insisted Lily and they argued about it until the train pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade station and they bickered as they pulled their trunks off.

"It's them!" someone cried and they both turned. All their friends — even Lily's — were waiting on Hogsmeade's platform.

"Oh Lily!" cried Alice, running up to Lily, the rest of her friends close behind. "I'm so sorry about your dad and I'm sorry we have been such terrible friends to you in this last month." Alice grabbed Lily in an almost suffocating hug.

"Yeah," Marlene added sheepishly. "Adaline explained everything and now that we understand we can't believe how thick headed we were being."

"I for one, believed you didn't really do anything wrong but was scared of being shunned," Ella announced. "I didn't have a boys dormitory to fall back on."

Lily rolled her eyes and hugged all of her friends, one by one, glad to be finally burying the hatchet with her friends.

"Will you come back to the dorm?" Marlene pleaded.

Lily didn't even have to think twice about it. "Yes!" she exclaimed, knowing she would not miss sleeping on couch cushions nor would she miss the grossness of living with five boys.

"Oi! You ditching us, Evans?" Sirius, who was eavesdropping, called out. James nicked him across the head with his hand.

"Sorry, boys," Lily called back, "You're officially an all boys dorm again."

"About bloody time," Sirius said with a cheeky grin.

"Don't make me hex you, Black."

"I've got James."

"I've got Alice."

"No one is duelling," James told them.

"So you two are actually together then?" asked Ella and Lily nodded.

"Unfortunately James is in fact whipped," Sirius declared.

"Remus," James said, "Make him be quiet before Lily hex's him."

Lily laughed, it seemed Sirius was trying to make up for two weeks worth of banter.

"Come on boys, let's leave the ladies to catch up-"

"But we wanted to hear about Dursley!" Peter wined.

"It's a Hogsmeade trip today. We could go to the Three Broomsticks and hang out together?" Alice suggested.

So all nine of them trudged down to Hogsmeade and ordered butterbeers from Madame Rosmerta. Lily and James went into detail about the disastrous dinner and everyone was in fits over Vernon Dursley who was now nicknamed, The Muggle Supremacist.

 _Author's Note_ :

 _Hi Everyone! I'm sorry for the late update but I appreciate all your reviews! I had a bad case of writer's block for a gap I needed to fill and in the presence of writer's block I had turned my attention to a different Jily Fic called Glowing (it's on my profile if you want to check it out - it's a 20k one shot). But it did the trick and I filled the gap and tada new update!_

 _Hope you guys like it and if you do, review, fav and follow!_

 _-Natalie xx_


	17. Chapter 16: Ice, Ice, Ice

Marlene didn't tell her friends who her mysterious date was with because once she told, it wouldn't be mysterious anymore and she didn't want to hear the judgement about going on a date with her best friend. Not that she knew that they would judge her but they'd warn her to be cautious and the likes because Nate and Marlene were the kind of friends that lasted life times and it would be a shame to ruin that for one date but Marlene knew all that already. It was why they'd agreed that if the date went poorly, they'd never talk about it again and what better way to ensure that was possible than to have no one else know they were on a date? Really, she couldn't fight with that kind of logic.

Marlene waited in the Entrance Hall for what seemed like forever wearing a pretty cream sweater with jeans and a pair of boots and she fiddled with the ends of her stringy, blonde hair as couple after couple left the castle together.

Suddenly, hands covered her eyes. "Guess who?"

Marlene would have rolled her eyes had they not been covered by Nate's hands. "Seriously?" she scoffed. "So cliché."

"Marlene Adams I have known you my whole life and that is why I know you love everything cliché and sappy."

Marlene slipped her arm in his as they followed suit of the other numerous couples and walked out of the castle. "I prefer the term romantic."

"Speaking of, you look great."

"You're just saying that," she accused. "But thank you. You, uh, you look good too."

And he did. Nate McKinnon was the kind of guy that girls dreamed about. Perfectly side swept brown hair with pretty blue eyes and a jawline to die for, it didn't help that Nate also had the kind of stubble that was thick enough that you knew he could grow a beard if he wanted to, in effect, it drove girls crazy. Marlene just didn't know if it drove her crazy.

The thought of kissing Nate not only excited her but also made her want to laugh. She didn't think that was very normal. She'd never thought about snogging a bloke and laughed.

"So, uh, do you want a butterbeer?" he asked as they sat at a table at the Hog's Head.

"Yes," she answered perhaps a little too sharply. "Please."

He got up and she breathed out. She didn't know how to be on a date with Nate.

A moment later, he was back sliding a butterbeer in front of her and sat down opposite her. An awkward silence fell and Marlene bounced her knee nervously. They never had awkward silences. Ever.

"So," Nate said.

"How's, uh," Marlene racked her brain for something to say, "Things?" Nailed it.

Nate raised an eyebrow. "Things are all right. How about you?"

"This was a bad idea," she blurted out before standing up and walking out.

"Marls!" he shouted after her, pushing his chair out to follow her. "Marlene!"

He caught her wrist outside of the Hog's Head.

"This was a bad idea," she repeated. "We're so awkward and - and what if it stays awkward? I couldn't stand it if it was always like this and we're neighbours so it's not just like we could avoid each other, I mean your sister has us as partners in her wedding party and we shouldn't ruin our friendship because it's pretty great and it would be a shame if-"

Very use to the long rantings of one Marlene Adams, Nate McKinnon decided to test a theory he'd been wondering about for a while. He tugged her into him and pressed his lips to hers.

Marlene stood frozen for a moment.

"You talk too much," Nate said by way of apology.

"Do I?" she asked, a little breathless as she soaked him in. She didn't think she'd ever seen his face this close up before. She rather liked the view.

"You do," he confirmed.

"Nate?"

"Hmm?"

"Kiss me again."

And that was the story of how Marlene Adams and Nate McKinnon shared their first kiss in front of the Hog's Head on a snowy day at the beginning of the Christmas month.

—

Christmas was fast approaching and Lily and James had to help the teacher's set up the Christmas decorations in addition to catching up on the schoolwork they'd missed. James and Lily were easily the last two people in the common room every night until James insisted they go to bed when Lily's eyes would start to droop. Their tempers were starting to run a little short – as James had missed the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw Quidditch game he'd been pestering his friends for every single detail. When Lily snapped and asked why James was so obsessed with it, he said wide eyed, "Lily! This game could help to further enhance Gryffindor's chances of winning! By knowing how the other teams play, we can train to counter attack their plays!" Lily fake yawned and James rolled his eyes and said, "You just don't understand, Lils."

Something Lily did like was the snow that covered the grounds, like a white endless blanket. Sometimes, when she was tired of doing work, James would catch her staring out the window. It happened to be early in the afternoon, one day when James caught her again. They were meant to be writing essays for Herbology but Lily couldn't think of anything she'd rather be doing less.

"You know," he said, as he pushed his glasses back up his nose, "Instead of staring at it we could snug up, have a stroll in it and possibly have a snowball fight."

Lily bit her lip and looked back at the half-written essay she had in front of her, "We shouldn't."

"Oh come on, Marie! One afternoon wouldn't kill us! Please!" he begged, pushing his bottom lip out into a pout.

"I – oh all right. Let's go!" she exclaimed. They went to go up to their dormitories and Lily shouted, "Make sure you grab a cloak!" just before James disappeared up the stairs. Lily jogged up the stairs to her dorm and fastened her emerald cloak around her. She shoved her hands into red gloves and placed a red and gold beanie carefully over her head. Stowing her wand in her robes, she waited in the common room. When James came flying down the stairs of the boys dormitory, he didn't even stop running. He grabbed her hand and, both of them laughing, pulled her out of the common room, through the castle – stopping at random places to give her a few kisses – and out into the snowy grounds.

"What's gotten into you today?" Lily giggled as she wrapped her arms around James' neck and gave him a soft, long kiss that made him moan softly.

"I don't know," James admitted. "I just woke up today and thought _Lily Evans is my girlfriend. How lucky am I?_ "

"Extremely," Lily assured him with a laugh, "But I'm pretty lucky to have you." She grabbed his hand and turned to face the grounds and sighed at the sight.

The trees of the Forbidden Forest had snowy caps on them matching the mountains near Hogsmeade. The ground was so smooth it looked as though no one had ever stepped foot inside the grounds of Hogwarts. Lily quite enjoyed the quietness of winter. If you were alone on a snowy day, it was quite possible to believe you were the only person to have existed.

James quite enjoyed watching Lily. He could sense she wasn't having too much fun recently – she was barricading herself with schoolwork and Head Girl duties – so, remembering the promise he made to her dad, he decided to surprise Lily with a fun afternoon. He'd managed to rope his mates into helping and they had all snuck out of the castle to put everything into motion.

"How beautiful is it?" Lily asked James and he agreed even though he hadn't been paying attention to the grounds.

"Shall we go for a walk around the lake?"

"Hmm, maybe I can finally get that date with the Giant Squid," she suggested teasingly.

"Didn't you hear, Evans?" James asked and Lily looked at him expectantly and he smirked, "The Giant Squid was so upset that you did in fact choose me over him – he's quite a jealous squid you see – that he's decided he no longer fancies you!"

"Ha ha."

James wrapped an arm around Lily's shoulders and started saying, "So I was thinking, the Christmas holidays are coming and I was hoping that maybe, if you wanted, that you'd come to my house and, er, spend Christmas with me and my, er, parents?"

"I would love to, James!" she exclaimed and then frowned, "Are you sure you want me to meet your parents?"

"I'm sure besides, you've already met my mum so really it's only dad."

"Are you sure they'll like me?"

"They'll love you," James assured her. "If they don't I'll hex them myself!"

Lily giggled but her smile turned to one of surprise as the Great Lake had come into view. Instead of icy waters, the lake was a great slab of ice but that wasn't the most peculiar thing. Students were skating on it!

"McGonagall is going to lose her hair!" Lily laughed.

"Well we'd better go before she finds out! Race you!" James shouted and sprinted off towards the lake. Lily chased after him and called, "We don't even have skates!" But when James' foot touched the ice, his shoe transformed into ice skates. Delighted Lily followed suit and soon enough they were gliding right into the middle where Lily and James' other friends were.

"This has your name written all over it!" Lily laughed at Sirius.

"Actually, this was all James' idea," he told her, pointing a thumb at James, "I merely assisted." He did a dramatic bow and said, "You're welcome."

Lily turned to James and declared, "This is amazing!"

"You like it?"

"Yes!"

It seemed the whole of Gryffindor was on the lake and students from other houses were slowly realising and coming to join. Lily and James skated around the lake together, holding hands and laughing when one of them fell or stumbled.

"I didn't realise skating was a thing wizards did too," Lily commented.

"Well no," he said, "When you were showing me the photo albums, there was one of you on a skating rink and you said you loved to do it and I just thought," he trailed off and shrugged. Lily pulled him closer by his waist and planted a long kiss on his lips.

"How'd you learn to skate so good so quickly then?"

"When we snuck out last night to fix all this up, we tried to skate. Poor Peter still hasn't got the hang of it." Peter went sliding across the ice in front of them and Lily and James grabbed him on either side, pulling him up again.

"All right, Pete?" Lily asked and Peter assured them that he was before going back to Sirius and Remus.

"Lily," James said when they started to skate around the lake again, "Have you been okay with everything?"

A hard look went over Lily's face and she shrugged. "I don't know. I think about him all the time, it's hard," and then she lightened up and said, "I'm just lucky I have a fantastic boyfriend who knows exactly what to do to make me feel better."

James grinned and then, "But seriously, Lily, if you ever want to just talk about it, I'm here. I don't want you to just … bottle it up."

Lily smiled and turned to face him, placing a gloved hand on his cheek, she said, "I know and I love you for it."

James leant in and kissed her nose making Lily smile and then wrapped her in a warm, tight hug. The beautiful moment was not destined to continue however. A snowball hit James right in the face and when they turned to see who had thrown it, they saw a mischievous Sirius Black zooming away. Smiling at each other Lily and James grabbed snow from the edge of the lake and zoomed off after Sirius and joined the snow fight.

When a furious Professor McGonagall caught them late in the afternoon, the lake had been unrecognisable. Snow forts had been made and snow balls were being flung across it by red cheeked students.

Fortunately, as so many students had been involved and no one owned up to turning the lake to ice and charmed it to transform shoes into skates and she couldn't give everyone detentions, she sent everyone back to their dormitories and James and the Marauders weren't punished.

On the way back to the common room, Lily and James slipped away from the others and got lost in the castle together. They found a quiet stone stairwell that no one really used and as soon as the door was closed, James pushed Lily against the wall. Lily ripped off her gloves and James removed her beanie as Lily bit her bottom lip.

"Oh Lils," James groaned, "You're killing me." He pressed his lips tightly against hers, one hand on her waist and the other pressed against the wall above her shoulder.

"I don't seem to have succeeded," she gasped as his lips moved off of hers and trailed down her jaw and onto her neck. He unfastened her cloak and pulled open her robes. James marvelled at the sight of Lily in a lace black bra and undies before he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door, " _Colloportus!_ "

Lily giggled before he threw his wand on the floor, unfastening his own cloak and hitching Lily up by her legs. She wrapped her legs and arms around his waist and neck and said, "Here?"

"Unless you don't want to."

Lily kissed James hard on the mouth and he pressed her against the wall again. Lily couldn't help but notice how sexy her boyfriend looked when he stared at her. He stared at Lily like she was the most prized possession in the world. Like he knew he shouldn't touch her but he just had to. The way he'd lick his lips, moan and then kiss her. Lily felt every worry she'd ever had slip away into nothingness.

—

 _Dear Ella,_

 _I don't quite know how to say this but you're monthly allowance has been cut down to three galleons after some unfortunate circumstances involving your father. I know you're always quick to judge your father but please keep an open mind. He really is trying after this latest blunder — he's been searching for a job._

 _I suppose I should tell you what happened. Your father made some rather large bets regarding Quidditch and he unfortunately lost those bets, luckily we had enough in the vault to cover the costs without things getting ugly with the goblins but we are down quite a bit in the money department so things are going to be tight but I've found a clerical job at the Daily Prophet and Doc's helping out a little with the groceries so everything should be fine._

 _I hope school is going well. Study hard. I love you._

 _Mum._

Ella scrunched the letter in her hand, tossing it across the empty hall and staring at it before opening her second letter.

 _Hey baby sis,_

 _Dad fucked up as I'm sure mum would have mentioned. Five thousand galleons is what I'm sure she failed to mention. Don't worry about your allowance, I'll send you some extra money when I can but if you could mention in your next letter to mum that perhaps she should, I don't know, leave dad, get a divorce. That would be helpful because if things keep going like this, they're going to have to sell up. They're just barely managing the upkeep on the house at the moment and if dad blows anymore of the family inheritance, even my help won't save them._

 _So tell mum to divorce him. I am sick of dad throwing her money away. I am sick of mum always being upset. She deserves her life back. She didn't listen to me but if she sees that we're both united on this, she just might agree._

 _Love, Doc._

"Fucking Christ," Ella muttered. _Five thousand galleons_.

She scrunched up her brother's letter and sent it flying across the hall to join her mother's letter.

"Do you have a habit of throwing letters across empty corridors and then swearing?"

Ella groaned. "Perfect. Just perfect." Of course, Sirius Black would show up when he was least wanted.

She watched as he picked up the letters and smoothed them out before handing them back to her. She grabbed them and shoved them in her pocket.

"Why didn't you just read them at the table?" he asked.

She'd hoped her speedy departure from dinner would have gone unnoticed.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't but usually people like hearing from home."

"A little hypocritical, don't you think?"

"Avoiding the problem, don't you think?"

She pushed off the wall. "Not your problem, don't you think?" with that she walked away.

—

Night had fallen by the time Lily pointed at the door and said, " _Alohomora!_ " but James grabbed her hand and said, "I've never been in this tower before. I wonder where it leads to!"

"James, you made a map of the school! How could you not have been here?"

"Sorry," he said as he led Lily up the stairwell, "What I meant was, we found the tower but the room at the top was locked and we couldn't get in."

"I wonder what's in it."

"Let's go then."

They ran the rest of the way up and on the last step there was a door with absolutely nothing on it. No locks, no handles. Lily couldn't even see hinges. A look of wonder crossed Lily's face.

"What?" James asked.

"I remember reading once in _Hogwarts: A History_ that there was a Quill of Acceptance and a Book of Admittance."

"What's that?"

"It's what decides whether you're magic enough to come to Hogwarts, to be a witch or wizard! Apparently they are locked in a room at the top of a tower. The room apparently is only accessible by Headmasters or Headmistresses."

"Did it say what seals the door shut?"

"Jems, they aren't morons. I'm pretty sure only Dumbledore would know how to get into that room. It would be a sight to see though."

"It would," James agreed, "We better get back."  
Lily nodded and together they crept back to the Gryffindor common room, their hands swinging between each other as they quietly giggles and stole kisses from each other without a care in the world, James occasionally twirling Lily around and then bursting out in laughter when Lily tried — and failed, thanks to his height — to twirl James. The portrait had given them quite the lecture before realising that the two students out of bed after curfew cared less than two drunken messes.

Lily entered her dorm, trying to tiptoe to her bed to not wake up her friends but her attempt was futile. Marlene sat up straight in bed and announced, "And Lily Evans is back in the dorm!"

"Who are you and what has James Potter done with Lily Evans!" Ella demanded to know when Lily walked into her dorm at almost one o'clock in the morning. "It is," she checked her silver watch, "Four hours after curfew!"

Lily grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, we got … caught up."

"And what were you two doing exactly?" Alice asked with a smirk.

"I believe you're familiar with the activity," Lily retorted and Alice smirked even more.

"You know, in light of everything we haven't demanded to know the full story about you and Potter but-" Marlene was cut off by Ella who continued, "Seeing as you're disappearing with Potter all over the school-" Marlene cut off Ella and continued, "We are officially demanding to know!"

"Did you rehearse that or something?" Lily said.

"Oh come on, Lily!" Alice exclaimed, "Put on your pyjamas and Adaline has a stash of honeydukes sweets and we can have a bit of a party before we go to bed!"

"And you still have that bottle of Firewhiskey Black gave you when you were in the Hospital Wing!" Adaline pointed out.

"Yeah! We've got stuff we wanna tell you, too!"

This caught Lily's attention, "Like what?"

"Well Marlene is more bearable now that her crush has called it quits with his girlfriend."

"You have a crush on Nate?" Lily asked, surprised.

"I don't have a crush on Nate!" Marlene protested.

"You have a crush on Nate!" Lily exclaimed.

"She's in denial," Alice said knowingly. "But since he's been dating Mia Scott, she wouldn't shut up about it."

"Because he kept it secret from me!"

"I don't think I could've kept James and I secret. Sirius would constantly look like he was constipated."

The girls laughed and Ella said, "But if it's a secret, he wouldn't know!"

Lily shook her head, "What James knows Sirius knows. Them two are impossible. They tell each other everything."

Alice scrunched up her nose, "Doesn't that annoy you?"  
Lily shrugged, "It's not like that. I don't know, I can't explain it. It's just James and Sirius. They're a package deal."

"You've become pretty close with all of them haven't you?"

Lily shrugged. Becoming close with them was inevitable once she had found out four of their most important secrets: Remus was a werewolf; Peter, James and Sirius were illegal animagi; they created a map of Hogwarts that shows everyone's whereabouts and secret passages out of the castle; And that James had an invisibility cloak. "Yeah, I guess I have."

"Alright then!" Alice demanded, "Spill the story!"

Lily quickly changed into her pyjamas and all the girls sat on Lily's and Alice's bed as Lily started telling the story of how James and herself began dating. She started with the prefect patrols where they'd act as friends and then told them about how she'd broken up with Andrew because he refused to believe that James was innocent even after he had saved her. She explained how she'd offered James help in proving he was innocent and how Sirius had mentioned Memory Surfing and how James didn't want Lily to do it because then she would know how he truly felt about her. But she didn't tell them about last year before summer. That was … that was hers and James. It hadn't been perfect but it had been theirs and only theirs. Even Sirius didn't know.

"And long story short after I performed the spell, he asked me out and I said yes," Lily finished. "We had a beautiful first date and it's been uphill since then."

"What was the date?" Ella asked with dreamy sort of eyes.

"Uh," Lily said, "He made a picnic on the roof of the tower with the best view and flew me up there."

"He really likes you Lily."

"That sounds beautiful," Marlene gushed.

"James has been planning his first date with Lily since second year," Ella said, "Of course he wouldn't settle for Madam Pudifoot's."

Lily laughed. "He can be a little extravagant at times. I think Sirius pushes it along. James asked me to spend Christmas with his family."

"Are you going to go?"  
"I am. I have this feeling with James. I don't know how to explain it but I never felt this with any other guy I've dated."

"What's the feeling?" Adaline asked.

Lily didn't answer because her answer sounded so cliché. She felt a sense of security with James, like she would be with him forever no matter what and that as long as they were together, she would be happy and she could see it. The years to come, the Christmases, the holidays spent together — it was so easy for Lily to imagine them moving in together, shopping for groceries together, travelling together. Lily could see it all and it warmed her heart, making her feel safe.

"I don't know," she finally answered as she popped a piece of Honeyduke's chocolate into her mouth, "It's just a feeling. A good one."

—

Marlene crept down to the common room at the ungodly hour of three in the morning, an apology on her lips. She smiled softly though at the sight of Nate sleeping on the couch. She plopped down the last few steps and went over to the couch, kneeling in front of him, she patted his face softly before pressing her lips to his.

"Mmm?"

"Sorry I'm late," she whispered. "The girls and I had a late night."

His eyes flickered open a small smile appeared on his lips. "'S okay."

"Move over," she demanded and he complied. She lay with her back into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. "How much longer are we going to keep this secret for?" she hummed. "It's driving me mad not telling the girls."

"Not to mention hypocritical. I mean, you did technically shun Lily for the same thing."

"Hmm, sleeping in your bed every night doesn't sound too bad a punishment though."

"We could tell them. I don't think they'd be bad about it."

Marlene sighed. "I know, but telling everyone comes with all this hype and we haven't even figured out what this is yet."

"I like kissing you, you like kissing me. We're friends. Clearly we're friends with benefits."

She elbowed him. "I just feel that we should wait until we're sure because after telling our friends, we have to tell our families."

"Ahh, that will be an interesting conversation … do you think they'd still let us have sleep overs?"

"Probably not."

"Okay, plan: we don't tell them so we can keep having sleep overs."

Marlene giggled. "And what if Henry catches us snogging at Hogwarts?"

"Pay him out obviously."

"Obviously."

—

James, Lily and their friends were cramped around the fireplace in the common room late one evening discussing the attacks on muggle-borns that had been happening at school. The teachers were no closer to finding out who it was but everyone knew it was a Slytherin. Alice had heard that the other Blake siblings weren't coming back to Hogwarts until the attacker had been caught and expelled.

"Well I think it's Snape," James said and Adaline shook her head.

"It can't be. Lily and I were talking to him when Blake was attacked."

"Murdered," James corrected and a shiver ran down Lily's spine, "And what do you mean you were talking to him?"

"I wanted him to know that I knew it was his spell that the attacker was using and at the time, I thought it was him so I told him to stay away from me. It's not a big deal," Lily said cautiously. She had avoided telling James that she had spoken to Snape because she wasn't entirely sure how he'd react, her guess was that he'd be angry.

"Lily, he's been attacking muggle-borns! Why the hell would you even go near him?" James questioned and Lily could tell he was mad. He had sat up a little straighter and his jaw was tense. Sirius and Remus were trying to start another conversation but everyone was watching James and Lily.

"But it's not Snape. It couldn't have been. Adaline and I were talking to him when Blake was killed."

"But you didn't know that then!" James exploded and Lily's eyes widened. She had never seen James so angry. Not feeling like being yelled at in front of her friends Lily stood up and said, "Excuse me," before walking away.

"Lily! Don't-" James started to call after her but she didn't listen and went through the portrait hole. She started walking down the corridor but not more than half way down, James grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom.

"What are you doing?" she scoffed.

"You don't get to walk away!"

Lily sent a deathly glare at him, "You don't get to yell at me in front of all our friends and then get offended that I walked away!"

"Well maybe if you didn't do mental things I wouldn't have to yell at you!" James retorted and Lily took a step back.

"So now I'm mental?"

"If you think there's nothing wrong in talking to the person who attacked you then yes!"

Lily took another step back, "You can watch me walk away now. Don't!" she said when he tried to grab her arm again. "Just leave me alone." She left the room and started walking around aimlessly, she must've been walking for a half hour when she decided to go visit Beedle in the Owlery.

As soon as she entered, the white owl flew down and sat on her shoulder.

"Hey Bee," she cooed and he hooted back softly. "I'm sorry I haven't been to visit. It's been a tough few weeks. I got attacked. Dad died. School work just keeps growing and now the only person who made me feel better about everything is angry at me and now I'm angry at him and we've just had a stupid fight. Everything's a mess."

"Awe, how sweet!" a sickly voice cooed and Peyton and Alvena Aitken stepped into the Owlery. "Are you and the famous Potter having romantic problems?"

"Did he finally realise that you're just a stupid little mudblood?" Peyton sneered and Lily flinched. She never quite got use to hearing the one word that singled her out as different in the only world she felt that she truly belonged. To this day, it stung like salt on a wound.

"Or did he just finally notice how ugly you are?"

"Shove off or I'll hex you!" Lily threatened.

"Tut tut," Alvena said. "What bad behaviour for a Head Girl to be threatening a fellow student?"

"Leave her Alvena, she's probably become a little edgy with all the attacks on mudbloods!"

"I said, leave me alone!" Lily demanded.

" _'I said, leave me alone',_ " Alvena mimicked. "Merlin, you're annoying."

"Nothing a little hex won't fix," Peyton said but Lily was quick and pulled her wand out the same time as the other two.

" _Impedimenta_!" Lily shouted pointing her wand at Peyton and Alvena. Their actions slowed down and Lily used that time to run past them out of the Owlery and thought to herself ' _See? I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself'_.

She was almost back in the castle when she saw him, the map out in front of his nose as he inspected it and he froze as he realised.

"Are you _spying_ on me?" she accused.

"I was looking at the map and I saw you in the Owlery with the Aitkens and-"

"You thought I needed saving," Lily said knowingly, "Well, I don't," she bit back, "I can handle myself. And seriously? Spying on me? _Spying on me?_ What are you my father?"

"Well, who knows what _mental_ thing you'll do next!" he retorted.

"So what?" Lily asked, "You were checking that I wasn't talking to Snape?" James face stilled and Lily laughed bitterly. "Oh my god, you were! You were spying on me to see if I was talking to Snape!" Her head felt fuzzy. Hadn't she just been in this exact position with Andrew? James didn't move a muscle, "You aren't even denying it! This," she shook her head, "I don't believe this, you arrogant son of a banshee! I should break up with you," she said suddenly. "I did when Andrew forbade me from speaking to you."

"Then do it!" he dared.

"What is going on here?"

Lily and James jumped back from each other. They had been too caught up in their own fight they hadn't noticed Professor McGonagall approaching them. Lily blushed and looked down sheepishly.

"Do you two know what time it is?" she questioned, her hands on her hips as she peered at them.

"No," Lily admitted.

"It is fifteen minutes past curfew!"

"Oh bullocks," James muttered.

"Language!" she scolded him. "Care to explain to me why my two Head students are bickering at each other in the corridor _after_ curfew?"

Neither Lily nor James answered as Professor McGonagall's eyes pierced into them as though trying to burn a hole large enough to make them crack and spill their secrets under the pressure. Lily's leg shook. She would not explain to Professor McGonagall her relationship issues.

"Well, Professor," James started, "Lily seems to think it's okay to talk to people we suspect attacked her without even telling me and when I got mad about it, she threatened to break up with me."

"James!" Lily shouted crossly, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't think Professor McGonagall cares that you're being a prat! And for the billionth time, it wasn't Snape-"

"He's the only one who knows the spell-"

"How do you know that, huh? How? It wasn't Snape's voice! You weren't there!"

"I was bloody there!" he roared beating his chest with his fist. "I was bloody there charming your neck closed again as you bled out like a pig! So don't you tell me I wasn't there! I was _there_! I was alone! You were passed out! You weren't there! I was. I was there!" He beat his chest like a gorilla every time he said 'I'.

Lily rolled her eyes, Professor McGonagall quite forgotten, and pulled her Gryffindor scarf off and threw it in his face, "Fine! You were there but it happened _to me_! Stop trying to play victim! _I_ was hospitalised for a week! _I_ have to apply dittany to my neck every night! _I_ have a huge, ugly scar across my neck! _I_ bled out like a pig, as you so nicely put it, because _I'm_ the _filthy, little mudblood_ who doesn't deserve to be here!"

"Now that is quite enough! Both of you! I haven't the faintest idea what is going on in your personal lives and honestly, I don't care! You will _both_ go up to your dormitories at once and you will _both_ stop bickering and you will _both_ receive detention for this display of unprofessionalism and misconduct! Two head students yelling at each other in the middle of the corridor like a pair of gorillas! I expected better from the both of you! Now back to bed both of you!"

—

James woke up the next morning angry and irritated. He was angry at Lily for being so careless about her wellbeing and was even more angry at her thickheadedness to admit that she was being careless. She claimed he wasn't the victim and he wasn't, he was the witness but somehow he had still come out a victim. She passed out she didn't see the lake of blood, didn't see her ghostly face, her limp body. She didn't have to carry someone in that state to the Hospital Wing whilst praying every moment of the way that their heart was still beating as blood dripped off their robes. She didn't sit next to a lifeless body for hours until they woke up. She didn't dream about red lakes and dead bodies for weeks.

When James entered the common room, he saw Lily sitting at a table doing homework. She looked up and saw him but James snapped his gaze away and stormed out of the portrait hole. She didn't chase after him which made James even angrier. She should be apologising to _him_. She was the one who was recklessly talking to maybe-muggle-born-attackers behind his back. James fought his urge to kick something as he dropped down the last few steps into the Entrance Hall and stormed, head down into the Great Hall, plonking himself down on the bench, chomping down some toast.

Sirius clapped his shoulder and sat next to him, grabbing his own piece of toast. "Gonna make up with Evans today?"

"No," he grumbled, taking another bite out of his toast. He had detention because of her.

"Ah come on, James. It was just a fight. Go talk to her."

"She walked away from me. Twice! And landed me with a detention. I'm not talking to her!"

Sirius shook his head and changed the topic, "Your mum sent an owl. She's having a Christmas Eve party and she wants to make sure you tell Lily."

"Sure, I'll go run and tell her now," James said sarcastically.

"Oi! Potter! Heard you and the mudblood split! Did you finally realise she was an ugly, old hag?"

Before Sirius could stop him, James had pulled out his wand and shouted, " _Furnunculous!_ " pointing it at the foul mouthed Slytherin. Immediately boils began to sprout on his face and not ten seconds later Professor McGonagall was stalking up to him.

"Potter, what do you think you are doing?"

"Teaching a lesson."

"You'll have to forgive James today, Professor. His love strings are hurt."

"I am quite aware, Black. Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention, Potter."

"But he called Lily a mudblood," — "And an 'ugly, old hag'," Sirius added — "And you already gave me one last night! Can't I just do two in one?" James argued ignoring Sirius' comment.

"Potter, no amount of name calling warrants a student to hex another. You will go to _two_ detentions for _two_ offences!"

Professor McGonagall went to the Slytherin student, who James saw was Alvena Aitken, and sent her to the hospital wing. James slumped in his seat. This was all Lily's fault.

"Come on, we're going to be late for Transfiguration. You don't want to give McGonagall another reason to give you detention."

James agreed and they walked to the classroom. James worked hard to avoid Lily all day. It was quite the mission. James kept wanting to tell her things, like how he managed to make himself three inches taller and changed his hair to blue.

"Outstanding Potter. I believe you'd pass the Concealment and Disguise part of Auror training with top marks. You, on the other hand," McGonagall said to Black who was trying and failing to make his hair shorter, "Need to practice!"

James sniggered and Sirius shot him a dirty look. "Why don't you go talk to Evans?" James sent a glare back but stopped laughing at Sirius.

The rest of the day was torture. James kept glancing at Lily but he never managed to catch her eye, not that he wanted to of course, he was ignoring her. To top everything off, Professor Scrivens and Slughorn assigned essays for homework, both due on Wednesday.

That night, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus had sat down to start the Potions essay and Sirius kept dropping comments like, "I sure wish Lily was around to help," or, "If only you weren't fighting with Lily, I could ask her for help." Remus finally silenced him saying, "Enough Padfoot."

—

Lily and James weren't forced to speak to each other until Thursday night when unfortunately, they had detention together scrubbing tiles in the girls' bathrooms. Both as equally as stubborn, they had not muttered a single word to each other in two days and both were dreading patrol duty that evening.

"I wish someone would shoot me," Lily mumbled as she packed her books and homework away.

"Oh stop over exaggerating," Alice demanded.

"I for one," Marlene said, "Think it's good if you and James talk tonight."

"I have nothing to say to Potter."

"Oh Lily," Ella sighed, "Always the stubborn one."

"He's the one who's bloody stubborn!"

"Come on, Lils," Adaline encouraged, "You know you miss him and James has given out four detentions these last two days to fifth and third years which just proves how irritable he's been without you. He never gives out detention."

"That is a fine point," Alice agreed. "Plus Sirius told me he's been irritable. His exact words were, 'It's like he's on a period or something'."

"Promise us, you'll talk to him tonight," Ella pleaded and Lily rolled her eyes. It wasn't any of their business if she did or didn't talk to her boyfriend but she knew she was right. The students leaving Hogwarts for Christmas would be leaving in a week's time and Lily hadn't written her name down to say she was staying since she had thought she'd be staying at James' for Christmas. Lily had no idea if he still wanted her to meet his parents and Lily would be very screwed if he had changed his mind. Lily's mum and sister were spending Christmas in France with Vernon's family and Lily had no intent to join.

Lily put on her cloak since the corridors were cold in winter and bade her friends goodnight.

"Talk to him, Lily!" Marlene shouted after her as she ran down the dormitory stairs.

James, too, had entered the common room when Lily did and Lily turned her face away from him and stalked ahead, determined not to talk to him. He followed behind her just as sourly as they made their way to the Entrance Hall where Filch gave them buckets and bristled brushes to scrub floors with.

"You'll be scrubbing the floors of the girls' bathrooms."

"Until when?" James grunted.

"Until I say, boy!"

Lily and James had been scrubbing the floors in the first floor girls' bathroom for the better part of an hour in complete silence when James finally decided to speak up. He just had to figure out how to say, what he wanted to say. He missed her but he couldn't just come out and say that. She'd threatened to break up with him. What if she didn't miss him and he told her he missed her? He'd look like the biggest prat. Maybe an icebreaker. He could tell her that he'd gotten another detention but he knew she wouldn't be please about him hexing someone — even if it was Aitken because _he had to set the standard_. He shuddered at how accurately he had memorised her voice saying those exact words.

He turned to start scrubbing another area —

"I've already done that section."

James glanced at Lily and moved to a different section. She sighed loudly. He should say something. She sighed again. He should definitely say something.

"I hexed Aitken's this morning." Fucking prat.

"Seriously Potter? That's the first thing you fucking tell me in two days?"

James looked at her sheepishly, "Sorry, first thing that came to my mind."

"Right," Lily deadpanned. She thought he would've said he missed her or that he was sorry or both. Instead he just told her he'd hexed Aitken. Oh, god! What if he meant it when he said for her to break up with him?

"I hexed her because she insulted you and I know," he said before Lily could intervene, "You don't need me to fight your battles and I know that you don't. It doesn't mean I won't be right there beside you in the middle of a fight, Evans because I-"

Filch hunched into the bathroom, outraged to see the two subjects of his detention talking with their brushes forgotten on the floor. "No talking!" he demanded. "You two better have these bathrooms spotless by ten p.m. Or else I will give you both another detention! You ungrateful swines! If I'd had it my way, you'd be hanging by your ankles in the dungeons! Now get scrubbing!"

Lily and James didn't need telling twice and immediately grabbed their brushes and ferociously scrubbed at the floor, determined to finish before ten o'clock.

"Don't stop scrubbing," Lily muttered, "Just, let's meet up. Tomorrow at midnight. Passageway behind the fourth corridor mirror."

James smiled, "That would be nice," he agreed.

"I said, _no talking_!" Filch walked back into the bathroom and stayed there watching them closely until ten o'clock. Thankfully, they'd managed to finish all the bathrooms.

—

The next morning, James' mood was considerably lighter and James was sitting in his dorm lying on his bed, trying to rest his eyes as he wondered if Lily and him would actually make-up or if they would just start yelling at each other again. He started to prepare 'speeches' on why he was angry with Lily — to explain himself in his head.

 _It's just that, I love you, Lils and I don't want anything bad to happen to you and I know you trust Snape and whilst I don't agree with it, I get it. He use to be your friend. Your best friend so you want to believe him when he says it wasn't him. But I don't trust him. For my whole life at Hogwarts we've been rivals. And-_

 _You're a prat, James. You should be able to trust my judgement and I can handle myself._

 _You're right, you can. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to protect you. You're My Marie and relationships go two ways. If I trust your judgement, you have to trust mine too. And mine tells me that Snape isn't innocent in all this._

"Prongs?"

James opened his eyes. "Oh hello, Wormtail."

"What are you doing?"

"Just thinking. Lily and I are going to talk later tonight," James told him just as Sirius walked in.

"Remus is with Madame Pomfrey so they'll probably be heading to the Shrieking Shack in about five minutes. What?" Sirius asked James as his eyes widened.

"It's a full moon," he croaked.

"Duh. Why do you think Remus has been so pissy lately?" Sirius said, "Oh don't tell me you forgot?"

"Lily wants to meet up at midnight to talk." James paled.

"Bad luck for you, mate."

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

"Well, you better go tell her before she thinks you stood her up."

"Maybe, I can give this full moon a miss?" James asked him hopefully.

"Uh-uh," Sirius said, "No way."

"Oh, come on, Padfoot. It's just one night! You can handle, Moony for one night."

"And what if he over powers me and runs away, James?" Sirius questioned. "A rat isn't going to do much to stop him, no offence Peter."

James sighed, knowing Sirius was right. James stood up, gave the cloak to Peter. "Look, I'm going to go quickly talk to Lily. Meet in the common room in five."

Sirius nodded and James bolted down the stairs into the common room looking around for Lily. He spotted Marlene and Adaline sitting by the window.

"Del, Marls!"

They looked at him. "Oh, James. What's up?"

"Where's Lily?"

"Haven't seen her. I think she's in the dorm."

"Can you go get her for me?"

"We're studying." Adaline pointed to the flash cards in front of them.

"Please, it's important!"

"Are you saying your relationship issues are more important than me passing my exams?" Adaline asked raising an eyebrow. "Because if I don't study I'm going to bloody fail Transfiguration."

"If one of you goes up to get Lily, I will give you all my Transfiguration notes."

Marlene and Adaline glanced at each other and then nodded and James sighed in relief. Marlene got up and walked, at a normal pace, to the girls dormitories. James' leg bounced as he checked his watch. About two minutes left. Merlin, how long did it take to get someone to come down.

"James, time to go!"

"Just another minute!" James called back to Sirius, holding a hand up.

Marlene came down without Lily.

"She's in the shower."

"Did you tell her I wanted to talk to her?"

"Prongs!" Peter called and James held his hand up again.

"Yes, and she said she's having a shower and that she'll talk to you tonight."

James rolled his head back, bringing his fingers to to bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. Okay. Okay. Just tell her-"

"Prongs!" Sirius shouted, getting angry now. "We need to go. Now!"

"Where are you all off to?" Adaline asked getting curious.

"Nowhere. Just tell Lily, that I'm sorry and that I can't meet up with her tonight. And that I'm really, really sorry. And that I do really, really want to talk to her. I just can't tonight."

"You can't?" Marlene arched her skinny eyebrow.

"I can't."

"For the love of Merlin's saggy left - JAMES POTTER IF YOU DO NOT COME THIS INSTANT I WILL MAUL YOU!"

"Sorry, got to go. Make sure you tell, Lily!" James shouted at the girls before running off with Sirius and Peter.

 _A/N:_

 _Hello everyone! Thanks for reading! Please review, follow or fav!_

 _-Natalie xx_


	18. Chapter 17: The Quiet One

Lily stormed up to James in the Entrance Hall before breakfast. He was in a small circle talking with Sirius and Peter and had Lily not been angry with James she may have noticed their tired eyes or the fact that Sirius had a busted lip or she may have even noticed how James winced when she shoved him.

"You stood me up!" she accused when he faced her.

"Lily, no - No! I swear, I didn't mean to-"

"Didn't mean to?" she repeated. "You _told_ my friends that you were standing me up!"

James cocked his head, deliberating, "Yes, but I mean I didn't - I wanted to talk to you but you were in the shower and so I told them. If I'd spoken to you, I would've told you what was happening."

"And what was happening?"

James looked around. Students were coming in and out of the Great Hall like cars on a busy street, some had stopped to look at their little show. He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the closest broom closet as she complained, "Ow! Stop manhandling me! I can walk!"

He closed the door behind them. "It was a full moon."

"A full moon," Lily repeated. "What's that got to do with — oh!" Her face released the tension and became smooth again as she realised.

"Yeah."

"Oh." She looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry. I should've known you'd had a good reason. I should have realised that it was a full moon."

"Ah well, not everyone worries about when the full moon is. I forgot myself until about ten o'clock. I really wanted to talk to you last night," he told her.

"Me too. I - I've missed you," she whispered softly as James looked at her with a small smile.

"Me too. I'm sorry about, well, everything mean that I said. I just got angry because you were putting yourself in danger and you didn't trust me enough to at least come with you."

"You would've come with me?"

"I would've tried to persuade you not to but if you were persistent, yes, of course I would've come with you, Lily. Together or not at all."

Lily pushed up onto her tip toes and pressed her mouth hard against James, grabbing a fistful of James' hair, her other hand grabbing his shirt, pulling him down to her her. She pulled back, leaning her forehead on his.

"I'm sorry I lied."

He kissed her. "Please don't do it again."

"Promise." Lily kissed him again. "Fancy a walk around the lake before we go to Hogsmeade?"

James nodded, "A bit presumptuous. What if I don't want to go to Hogsmeade with you?" he teased and in response. Lily snaked her arms around his torso and pulled him closer, kissing him, long and slow and-

"Is my kissing really so bad that you're wincing!?" she asked pulling away.

"Maybe," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Jems!" She hit his stomach lightly and James sucked in his breath as pain shattered through his abdomen. She looked at the spot she hit as though trying to see through his shirt. "What's wrong? Why are you in so much pain?"

"You hit hard," he offered.

"I could punch you with all of my strength and it'd be like a fly landing on you. What's wrong?"

"Just a little sore from last night, I guess," he answered hesitantly.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him and she went to pull his shirt up but he batted her hands away. She glared at him and he resigned. She swiftly lifted his shirt up, her eyes bulging at the big, ugly bruise stretching across his abdomen. "Bloody hell, James!"

The skin on the left side of his stomach had turned a plum colour, and large band-aids were placed in some spots. "It's nothing," James insisted. "It'll heal within a few hours."

"James, you have to go see Madam Pomfrey," she told him as she inspected the bruise closely. "That looks really bad."

"I've had worse. We know how to heal these kind of things. It just takes a few hours for the paste to take effect. Trust me."

Lily bit her lip looking at the bruise unsurely. It looked mean, all dark purple and green. The kind of bruise that takes weeks to heal.

"James, are you sure? This looks bad."

"Yes, I'm sure," he assured her, cupping her face to force her to look at his face. "We're not stupid, love. I think of everything, remember?"

"That's up for debate. Forget about a full moon much?" she teased.

"I promise, I'm fine."

"You'd tell me if you weren't?"

"Of course."

Lily glanced down at the bruise again. "How?" she asked, letting her fingers lightly brushing over it.

"Remus threw me into a tree."

Lily gasped, "James!"

"I'm fine. It happens. He doesn't know what he's doing."

"Can we please go get this looked at by Madam Pomfrey? Please!"

"Lily, I promise, I'm fine and if we go to Madam Pomfrey, she's going to start asking questions and I can't exactly tell her that a werewolf threw me into a tree when I was a stag!"

Lily bit her lip. "Fine. But if it's not better by the end of the day, I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey myself."

James nodded, "You won't need to because it'll be like it was never there."

"I'll be the judge of that."

James tugged his shirt back down and caressed Lily's face. "Well, since you're hurt … want to just lay in bed all day together?"

"Hmm, sounds too good."

—

James and Lily weren't the only ones who'd decided to avoid Hogsmeade that day.

Marlene and Adam hid themselves up in the Astronomy Tower, where they were free to make out and talk without interruption and without the risk of being found out.

Adaline and Thomas had snuck into the Boat Shed and slipped a boat onto the lake, snuggling under a heavy blanket together as they shared a bottle of firewhiskey.

Remus Lupin spent the day in the Hospital Wing. Peter decided to keep him company.

Alice met Frank in Hogsmeade but then he apparated her away to London when no one was looking.

It just so happened that the only two people in Hogsmeade that day, were Ella and Sirius and as fate would have it, they bumped into each other in the Three Broomsticks.

"Fancy a table together?"

Ella was about to decline but she saw one Michael Putley with Anna Kit draped across him and decided it would look less pathetic if she seemed to have a companion that could be misconstrued as a date. Bonus points that it was one Sirius Black, one of the fittest blokes in the year.

"Sure."

They walked to a booth together and sat opposite each other.

"Where're your mates then?" Sirius asked.

Ella pulled a face. "Marlene's on some mysterious date … again. Della's with Plunkett. Lily's with James. Alice is god knows where with Frank. What about your mates?"

"Remus is visiting his mum, Peter's doing something unimportant and James is taking up residence in the dorm with Lily."

"Remus' mum sick again?"

Sirius shrugged. "She has an illness that fluctuates unpredictably."

"You know, we like to bitch about how terrible our families are, we don't even realise that there could be worse things."

"Like what?" Sirius wanted to know.

"Like a parent being sick all the time. Like a parent dying." Remus and Lily popped into her mind. "She cries sometimes, at night when she thinks everyone's asleep."

"Lily, I presume."

"It makes me feel guilty because here I am hating my parents all the time and Lily wishes for just one more day with her dad."

"You play the hand your dealt."

"Poetic."

"What was in the letters?"

Ella looked down. "Buy me a drink and maybe I'll tell you."

So he did and she did.

"Money isn't everything," Sirius consoled.

"Never said it was," Ella agreed, "But my dad's an idiot."

—

In the afternoon, Alex came to the boys dormitory and all but kicked Lily and James out much to James' annoyance. Lily didn't mind too much though, she wanted to go for a walk around the castle — the sun had started to shine through the clouds.

"Oh come on!" Lily begged, "Please!"

"Lily, I'm not really up for it. I'm tired."

They were lying down together on a couch in the common room, in front of the fire. "We've been lying down all day!"

"And the other stuff," he reminded her, "You can't forget the other stuff because it's tiring especially if you've been up all night." Lily pouted and James groaned. "After dinner?" he suggested and Lily smiled happily.

"Perfect," she agreed. He kissed her head and his eyes were drooping when a large group of people entered the common room. It was a coincidence that all of them happened to enter the Gryffindor common room at roughly the same time.

"Told you they made up!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, nudging Peter's arm.

"I didn't say they hadn't," Peter cried alarmed.

"What did you guys do all day?" Remus asked, sitting in the armchair. James observed that whilst he still looked tired, colour had come back to his face.

Lily shrugged again, "Not much really," she said and then pointedly, "How was your mum?"

"She seemed better," Remus shrugged.

"Tell us if you need anything," Lily told him.

"That's why he has us," Sirius pointed out.

Nate and Marlene came in together and Lily raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were on a date, Marly?"

"I was," she confirmed. "I just bumped into Nate on the way up."

"Where was this date anyways?" Ella asked. "I didn't see you in Hogsmeade … or Nate for that matter."

Marlene shrugged, "We were exploring the woods around the Shrieking Shack."

"Romantic," Peter commented. "What about you, Nate?"

"I was in the library. Charms homework."

"How come you guys never became friends with Alex?" Lily asked changing the subject and also thinking that if they'd been friends she would still be in James' bed, laying down comfortably in the quiet.

Sirius shrugged, Peter stared blankly and James said, "I don't know. It just didn't happen."

" Anyone know where Alice is?" Adaline inquired.

"Hell if I know," Ella grumbled. "She dumped me in Hogsmeade for Frank."

"I saw her heading into the Great Hall," Peter provided. "Shall we go for dinner?"

The group all agreed but dinner, was interrupted with an announcement, like the one they had in Potions when Mia Scott was attacked.

" _All students are to return to their common rooms immediately and are to wait instruction from their Head of House._ "

The announcement, however, was not made by Dumbledore. It was an unfamiliar, husky voice. The announcement repeated. Dumbledore stood up at the front of the hall.

"Prefects! Please lead your houses back to your dormitories! Your Head of House will be up shortly to take a roll call! Head students, please meet the teachers in this chamber," he gestured to a door in the corner of the room.

The Great Hall filled with activity. Prefects shouting instructions, students asking questions. James and Lily looked at each other, dread filling them.

"Another attack," Lily realised sadly. "We better go."

"Evans!"

Lily turned and saw Henry Adams, a prefect.

"Henry, James and I have to meet Professor Dumbledore."

"I know, where's Remus?"

Lily looked at James, "He's not at Hogwarts," James jumped in. "You and Strite are in charge. Make sure you get everyone to the common room."

"I suggest two of you lead and two of you round up," Lily told him. "Go!"

"Come on." James grabbed Lily's hand and together they pushed through the crowd until they reached the chamber. A fire burned in a stone fireplace and a circle of teachers stood around in front of it, discussing something.

"Ah, James, Lily," Professor Dumbledore greeted. "Unfortunately, there has been another attack."

"On who?" James asked at the same time Lily asked, "Are they okay?"

"Mr Steve Nettles. He was found by an auror. He is being looked after by Madam Pomfrey."

"So he's alive?" Lily breathed out in relief.

"Yes."

"How can we help?"

"We need to search the castle and make sure all students are back in their common rooms. The two of you will assist the teachers."

Lily and James nodded just as Professor McGonagall barked, "You two can search the towers! Come back to this room once you're done."

Lily and James nodded and left together, James slipping his hand in Lily's. They had both been stunned into silence. Another student going through what Lily went through. It wasn't fair.

"At least they found him in time," James murmured.

"Thank Merlin for the aurors."

"I should keep a better eye on the map. If I was just watching the map, I would know who it was."

"James you can't watch the map, twenty-four seven."

"I can try."

"The teachers will find out about it."

"Maybe but it's worth it if I find out who it is."

They climbed up the Grand Staircase, stopping when the stairs decided to move to a different landing. "I just hope Nettles is okay. We should go visit once he's feeling better. Scott and Rogers came to visit me."

"Did they?" James asked surprised, the stairs moving back to the landing they needed.

"Yeah. We shared our stories, you know, that sort of thing. Told me I would be okay and that the scar isn't too bad to deal with-"

"You still cover your neck."

"I don't like to see it. Haven't a clue what I'm going to do when the weather gets warmer. I can't keep wearing scarves and turtle necks."

James stayed silent. The scar wasn't so bad. It was a thin white line going across her throat, barely noticeable but he didn't quite like to look at it either. It made everything that had happened to her real.

James kissed her hand, wishing that it had never happened to her. They searched all the rooms in the North Tower and then crossed over to the Ravenclaw Tower. They reached the top of the Ravenclaw Tower to find nothing unusual and quickly made their way to the Gryffindor Tower, leaving the Astronomy Tower for last. Halfway up the Gryffindor Tower, Lily spotted a textbook on the ground. It lay open, it's cover facing up and Lily bent down to pick it up. It was an Advanced Potions textbook and she turned it over.

Their were scribbles all in the margins in writing so familiar Lily could've spotted it blind. In the right top hand corner was a spell. ' _Sectumsempra — For Enemies_ '.

"James," she called softly and he came over. "It Snape's. He told the truth. He really did lose his book."

"No, that's Alex's."

"James, that's Snape's writing and see," she pointed to where the spell was scribbled in, "That's the spell."

James grabbed the book off of Lily. He could've sworn James had seen Alex reading a Potions textbook just like this one. "I swear, it's Alex's," and then it dawned on James. "It's Alex."

"What?"

"Snape said the book was stolen, not lost. Alex stole it. Alex was the only other person who knew the spell."

Lily looked at James like he'd cracked. "I'm not sure, James … you can't even be sure that Alex was using this textbook. I mean, we all had the same textbook last year and this is Alex we're talking about! He barely muttered ten words to me when I stayed with you guys for those couple of weeks. He's so quiet."

"It's brilliant," James said amazed, "He planned it out so meticulously. No one would even suspect him — look at you, the evidence is right in front of you and you're doubting it!"

"Because this isn't evidence, James! You can't incriminate someone because they may have stolen a textbook."

"Did you see Alex at dinner tonight? Because I didn't."

Lily went silent for a moment. "Okay, yes and he - he left for the bathroom in Potions-"

"And on the day Rogers was attacked, he was 'sick' and didn't go to class."

"Oh. My. God. I - it's Alex. He's the one who's been attacking everyone. He attacked me."

"We have to ask the boys if they remember Alex sneaking out at all that night."

"And what about Paris? Do you remember seeing him around?" Lily asked. "Was he at dinner?"

James dragged his hands down his face, "I can't remember! The boys and I were distracted." Lily raised an eyebrow at the word 'distracted'. "We were charming the Ravenclaw benches to jolt, it was quite funny."

"I don't remember either," Lily frowned. She'd been too caught up with Adaline to notice anything else.

"We've got to go tell Dumbledore!"

"Wait, we haven't cleared the Astronomy Tower yet and she's not — there's no concrete proof, James."

"What's the floor got to do with this?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Muggle saying I guess. There's no solid proof. No one saw who attacked them. There were never any witnesses — you were the closest thing they have as a witness and even you didn't recognise your own roommate! I didn't recognise his voice. It sounds like he's being smart about it. Changing the way his voice sounds, wearing masks. Only attacking when everyone is out of the corridors … what I don't get, I slept on the floor of your dormitory for almost three weeks, why didn't he try to attack me? I was alone with him multiple times in that period."

James shook his head. "You said it yourself. He's being smart, Lily. If he attacked you in the Gryffindor Tower in our dormitory, all five of us would've been prime suspects and once all of us four got cleared, it'd be obvious it was him."

"Yes, it would've been," someone agreed stepping out of a broom closet and Lily froze. It was the same voice. She whirled around, grabbing James' wrist.

—

"Is anyone missing?" Henry Adams shouted across the common room.

Sirius sat comfortably on a couch not paying attention to the panicked talk that caused a drowning din loud enough to cause a migraine. Peter sat next to Sirius.

"Where's Lupin?" someone questioned.

Sirius was about to jump in but Henry Adams beat him to it.

"He's not in the castle at the moment. Anyone else missing?"

"Where's Brown?" Peter asked Sirius.

Sirius looked around and shrugged, "Don't know."

Ella plonked down on Sirius' other side. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"Sitting."

"Next to me. Why?"

Ella rolled her eyes. "Because everywhere else is taken."

Sirius glanced around and noticed that was in fact true but that didn't mean he liked it any more. "Look just because I listened about your pathetic family problems, doesn't make us friends."

"Don't flatter yourself, Black. I'm just sitting down."

Adaline, Alice and Marlene all sat on the floor in front of them.

"I can't believe there's been another attack," Marlene sighed.

"I can't believe your little brother gets to boss everyone around," Ella said.

"Blame James and Lily for getting to be out there whilst we're stuck in here."

"Marls?" Nate called a voice of relief as he entered the common room. She turned quickly and smiled. Sirius kept his face passive as he noticed how Nate's hand brushed across her shoulder as he sat down perhaps a little too close to her.

"Say Nate, that charms homework, do you think you could give me a hand?" Sirius asked.

"Uh, why?"

"Well, you mentioned you were working on it today, right?"

"Ah, right but I'm hopeless at charms, you're better off asking Lily."

"'Course I am," Sirius muttered.

Marlene on a mysterious date indeed.

—

Alex Brown stood, quite confidently, twirling his wand in his hands. His school robes hung off him limply and his face had a sort of demeanour about it that made a shiver run through Lily. This wasn't the quiet, hard working Alex she knew. This was the man who attacked her. Who slit her throat open and left her to die. Her grip tightened on James' arm. James pulled her back and she stumbled into him a little before he stepped slightly in front of her, pulling his wand out. Lily did the same.

"I came to retrieve my book."

"It's not yours, it's Snape's!"

Alex rolled his eyes, "Tomayto tomahto. Who in Merlin's name cares how I got the book? Point is, it's mine now and I'll be needing it back."

"I don't think so. You did it. You attacked all those people."

"Mudbloods," he corrected James.

"Witches and wizards," James corrected.

"Blood traitor."

"Murderer," he accused and then he turned his head slightly to Lily, "Go get help."

"She's not going anywhere," Alex said training his wand on Lily. "Now's as good as time as any to finish the job I started on you," he told Lily.

"Why?" Lily asked him. Someone check the map. Check the map. It rang in her head loudly, like she was trying to tell the boys telepathically. _Check the map. Check the map. Check the map!_

"Why?" Alex echoed. " _Why_? Because I worked my ass off at Hogwarts every single damn year and I got nothing. I didn't get prefect. I didn't get on the Quidditch team. I don't even get top marks. Because of mudbloods! Henry Adams took my beater position on the team. You and that stupid half-blood werewolf got prefect! A mudblood and a werewolf got prefect over me! Ha! Five generations of my family have been Prefects! And instead it went to some half-blood and the other position, of course, went to a mudblood!"

"Call her that again and we'll find out how clean your blood is, you got it?" James growled.

"Terrified," he mocked, a smirk on his face. James lifted his wand but before he could mutter a word, it flew out of his hand and Brown caught it with ease. "Thanks for that. I've been thinking-"

" _Expelliarmus_ ," Lily muttered and a wand flew out of Brown's hand, only able to keep hold of one, and James caught it easily.

"Wrong wand, Lils."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she retorted.

" _Sectumsempra_!" Brown said and her throat slit open.

James caught her as she fell, blood seeping through her fingers.

—

In an attempt to calm the younger students, Sirius Black did what Sirius Black did best. He created a distraction.

"All right everyone, listen up!" he shouted standing up on a small table so everyone could see him. "Exploding Snap tournament! If you want to play, buy in is three sickles and you should hand that over to Marlene who'll be taking everyones names down!"

They waited a few minutes for everyone to decide and Marlene collected the money and wrote down names.

"Spectators are allowed to make bets! Peter will be in charge of that!" Sirius announced once more.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ella muttered, watching as everyone started their game with their assigned partner.

"Firsties aren't freaking out anymore," Sirius pointed out and true to his word, the first year students, all the students in fact, looked happy as they watched on making bets and cheering on players.

This was perhaps the moment that Ella realised that there was more to Sirius Black than met the eye.

"You're all right, you know that Black."

"Am I usually not all right?" he questioned.

"Don't be cute."

Marlene was chewing her lip when she approached Nate. "Don't you think Lily and James should be back by now?"

"Marls, they're probably just helping the teachers."

"But what if they aren't? What if they're in trouble?"

"Marlene, I say this out of love but this is the thing that you do," Nate told her and she scowled.

Ella pursed her lips. It had been a while and Lily and James should be back. "Are you worried?"

"I don't worry."

"Of course not."

A moment. "Worried about what?" Sirius inquired.

"Lily and James."

"They're just doing Head stuff," Sirius shrugged.

"Right."

—

" _Vulnera sanentur … vulnera sanentur … valnera sanentur_ …" the bleeding slowed but the cut didn't heal completely and James knew it was because of the wand. It's power felt sluggish. "Come on you son of a … _Vulnera sanentur … Vulnera senentur … Vulnera sanentur … Vulnera senentur_." The skin finally sewed itself back together leaving a mean red line across her throat and James pressed his forehead to hers, her faint breaths comforting him somewhat.

James looked up, his eyes darkening when he saw Brown still standing there. Without a moments thought, James flicked the wand to the suits of armour and no sooner had he done it, had the suits of armour started clapping loudly. Teachers would be coming now. Everything would be fine.

" _Confringo!_ " Brown shouted but James, in an effort to block it only managed to deflect it so it hit a suit of armour.

 _Bloody wand_! " _Defodio_!" James shouted and a chunk of his nose was gouged out. " _Flipendo_!" and he was sent flying back.

James knelt beside Lily again, thinking he had time but Brown recovered quicker than he had thought and _"Stupefy_!"

Everything went black.

Then it wasn't.

"Professor McGonagall! Thank god!" Brown shouted sounding relieved, James still groggy picked himself up off the floor. "Potter's the attacker! I caught him attacking Evans! I tried to stop him and then he attacked me! I tried to help Evans but …"

 _Lily_. James went to sit beside her but Professor McGonagall stopped him.

"Stay where you are, Mr Potter." Her voice was ice.

"Professor McGonagall, I didn't attack Lily, you _know_ I didn't attack Lily! Brown attacked Lily whilst we were walking!"

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips looking between her two Gryffindor students. One of whom, had a history of bullying and the other who had a history of keeping his nose down.

"My office now, Mr Potter," she ordered. "Hand over your wand."

"What about Lily?"

"I will see to it that she gets to the Hospital Wing, Mr Brown seems to have done a good job at healing her wounds."

James shook his head, "No, Professor," his face paled, "You can't believe him, _he_ attacked her and _I_ healed her. I swear, Professor! I — why would I want to hurt Lily? She's my girlfriend! Why would I want to hurt my girlfriend?"

"Your wand, Potter."

James without even looking, handed Professor McGonagall the wand he was holding and said, "Just get her to the Hospital Wing and - and get her friends. She shouldn't wake up alone."

With that, he walked to Professor McGonagall's office where he waited.

A/N: Hi Guys, thanks for reading! Please review, fav or follow!

-Natalie xx


	19. Chapter 18: Have A Little Faith

Sirius Black didn't know a lot about the world but there were a few things he was certain about and one of those was that James Potter would rather jump off the Astronomy Tower than harm a hair on Lily Evans' head. James Potter would rather serve his own beating heart for dinner than leave so much as a bruise on Lily Evans' arm. James Potter would rather castrate himself than curse Lily Evans and you get the point.

"Sirius, you know I didn't do this?" James asked weakly.

"I know mate," Sirius assured him. "I know but until Lils wakes up, it's your word against his."

James breathed in deeply. "Why hasn't she woken up yet? It's been hours."

"Madam Pomfrey said it's perfectly normal. She lost a lot of blood."

"Who's with her?"

"The girls, Remus and Pete."

James nodded. At least she had people around her. "Where've they got Brown?"

"In a room like yours."

A room like James' would consist of an unused teacher's office with a squeaky bed and tiny bathroom. The rules of the room were simple: You were not to step one foot outside the threshold.

"But don't worry, Lily will wake up and she'll set things straight. I don't think anyone actually believes you fatally cursed Lily Evans."

James ran a hand through his hair. "This is Mia Scott all over again."

"Don't say that," Sirius snapped. "Lily will wake up and she'll set the story straight."

"Sirius, I was passed out for Merlin knows how long! He could've confunded her or wiped her memory! Hell, he could be the reason why it's taking her so long to wake up!"

The door opened to reveal Professor McGonagall. "It's been twenty minutes, Black. Times up."

"If she wakes up tell her-"

Sirius put a hand on James' shoulder, "I will."

* * *

Marlene sat with Adaline in a plastic chair watching Lily's chest rise and fall in slow rhythms. It was odd that Lily should have to be in such a state not only once but twice within the space of weeks and it hit Marlene that not only was it odd but it was entirely unfair. A lot of things were unfair like the fact that James was locked up in some room that acted as a glorified prison cell instead of here by Lily's side.

"It wasn't James."

"Obviously."

"But I can't imagine Brown doing this either."

Adaline sighed. "I know but James definitely didn't."

They fell into a quiet after that and Marlene continued to watch Lily and she wondered what would have happened had James not been there to fix her, of course, Brown was spouting out that he had healed Lily but it was off when it came out of his mouth — she suspected that McGonagall thought so too.

Lily would've died as horribly and as alone as Charlotte Blake. Lily would have died way before the world was ready to say goodbye and Marlene wondered if that feeling creeping into her skin was the exhaustive knowledge that life was so very short. The realisation was perhaps as monumental as one could imagine and it wasn't so much a realisation as it was a question. Just one big question: if I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with my life?

Marlene supposed she'd had a relatively happy life. She had memories of a fantastic childhood, friends that had become family and she did well in school. But just because it was happy didn't make it meaningful. She'd never done anything of grand importance. None of them had. They were only seventeen, of course they hadn't and that's what made it all the more unfair. It was why Lily had to wake up.

Marlene wasn't sure when but at some point she dosed off only to be awoken some time later by Adaline, who nudged her and said, "She's awake!"

They both jumped out of their seats to see Lily, her eyes opening.

"Marls? Della?" she managed to croak, her green eyes flickering between them.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

* * *

 _How was she feeling?_ She saw James raise his wand and then blood. She felt like she needed to throw up.

"What happened?" she asked, she wanted to sit up but her limbs felt like logs so she remained lying down.

"You were attacked again," Adaline answered.

"Move aside," Madam Pomfrey commanded, pushing Marlene out of the way. "Are you in pain?" she asked Lily.

She shook her head. "Who attacked me?" She didn't miss the glances her friends shared. "Who?"

"Well, Brown is spewing some ridiculous story that it was," Marlene looked over at Adaline who nodded, "That it was James."

The image of James raising his wand, saying the spell, struck in her mind again but the image was blurry, like she was looking at it through a haze. The memory didn't fail to send a shiver down her spine no matter how many times she tried to deny the memory.

"But James is saying that it was Brown."

Alex Brown. They had been talking about Brown before, before, well she didn't know before what but they were talking about … but what were they saying … something about a textbook. It all seemed so distant.

"The teachers were rather hoping you could help them straighten the story out."

Adaline sat on the edge of the bed. "Do you remember anything?"

Lily bit her lip. "I — we were walking and then we - we-" James raised his wand and then blood. Lily shook her head. "I think I've been confunded," she whispered because she knew James would never hurt her. "Everything is so confusing."

"Miss Evans," Madam Pomfrey came back, "Auror Pierce is outside. She wants to talk to you."

Lily shook her head. "No, no, I want," _James_. "Can I speak to Sirius?"

"She's awake?" she heard someone ask outside.

"That is none of your concern, this is ministry business-"

The doors were pushed open and revealed Sirius himself. He looked around widely, his eyes hovering over the curtains drawn around the bed where no doubt Remus Lupin slept off the full moon unaware of the soap opera Hogwarts was currently experiencing, but then he found Lily and a relieved smile crossed his face.

"Padfoot," Lily murmured as he came over to her and sat at the end of her bed. "Padfoot where's Prongs?"

Sirius looked up at Marlene and Adaline. "Can we get a minute alone?"

"Mr Black, Auror Pierce-"

"Can wait," Lily interrupted. "I don't want to answer any questions yet."

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips. "Very well. I will tell Pierce to come back later."

Madam Pomfrey swept outside, shutting the door behind her and Marlene and Adaline gave them space.

"Sirius, I think I've been confunded. I — everything is hazy."

He sighed. "James thought you might've. Tell me everything you remember. Take your time."

Lily nodded. "I remember the announcement and James and I were sent to search the towers for stray students. We were in Gryffindor Tower and we found a textbook … this is where it starts getting hazy."

"Take your time," Sirius encouraged.

"I think it was a potions textbook, a stolen textbook … and then I have a memory of James pointing his wand at me and saying the spell but it doesn't feel right … James would never do that. What happened?"

Sirius told her the story James told her and then, "He has his mirror on him."

Lily looked at him and without needing her to ask, he handed his mirror over.

She hesitated before speaking but she told herself she was being stupid and asked the mirror, "James?"

"Lily?"

"James!" relief flooded through her at the sight of James' face.

"Thank Merlin, you're all right," he whispered. "Lily, Brown's sprouting some horrendous bullshit-"

"I know," Lily cut him off. "I know. He confunded me."

"How do you know? Did Madam Pomfrey…?"

"No, it's just … everything's hazy. I remember us finding a textbook and then you're pointing a wand at me but I know it wasn't you." She was surprised at the certainty in her own voice but no sooner had she said it did she realise that of course she knew it wasn't him.

"How?" he asked.

"The memory is … weak," she decided. "It's like a bad dream, something from a different reality … Pierce wants to question me but I told Madam Pomfrey that I'm not ready."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"I'm not going to tell her anything … not until I get my memories back." That woman had a grudge against James ever since he proved innocent the first time he was accused of hurting Mia Scott, she would not be foolish enough to tell Pierce that she had a hazy memory of James attacking her. Nor did she want Pierce to poke holes in her story or to say that Lily was in denial. She wanted her memory of that night clear and crystal. It would be the only safe way of getting James out of this mess.

None of the adults could know she'd been confunded. They'd only prod and poke at her story.

"How are you going to get your memories back?"

"Sirius."

* * *

Sirius grabbed the three thickest books he could find on confundment charms and checked them out of the library — "I didn't realise there was an assignment on confundment charms," Madam Pomfrey commented.

"There isn't," Sirius supplied. "Personal project."

He carried them to the Hospital Wing where he sat by Lily's bedside for three hours reading about confundment charms and more specifically how to break one. He didn't know how confident he felt poking at her brain but she wanted her memory of the previous night and she was going to get it.

"Anything?" Lily asked after a while. Her eyes had a hint of hope and he breathed heavily.

He shook his head. "Just a bunch of stuff on how a confundment charm is performed." But he still read over it. If you wanted to break something you had to understand how it worked first.

"Pass one of those books over."

Sirius shook his head. "You're supposed to be resting."

"Reading is resting."

Sirius considered and then levitated a book over to her and she too started reading. Lily Evans was no brick and he'd take her insight if he could.

* * *

Marlene found Nate at the Gryffindor table at breakfast. He was unsuspecting as one usually is at breakfast and she sat next to him. She nudged him.

"Hey," he greeted like he would when they were just friends. But they weren't just friends anymore and life was too short and if she were to die tomorrow, she'd want the world to know that she'd snogged Nate McKinnon because she figured she was only seventeen and fine, she hadn't done anything particularly interesting or meaningful in her life. But she was dating Nate McKinnon and that was interesting and meaningful to her.

"Hi," she said and then she planted her lips on his in front of the entire school. It wasn't a particular romantic kiss, just their lips mashed together for a few seconds to get the message across and the people around them caught sight, some staring.

She pulled back and turned to her plate, helping herself to some eggs and toast. She had no doubt that the news would be all over Hogwarts by first period.

"What happened to the master plan of keeping this secret so we could still have sleepovers?"

Marlene shrugged. "Life's too short." Marlene noticed Alice staring at them, her mouth agape. "Hey, Alice. Nate and I are dating, by the way."

"I knew you had a crush on him," she whispered. "No one is that neurotic."

"I was not neurotic. He was dating a fifth year!"

Adaline sat down at the table. "She isn't back onto the 'Nate dated a fifth year' thing is she?"

"Oh no, she's surpassed that," Alice said, seeming to have gotten her mind back. "She's into the 'snogging Nate at breakfast' thing now."

Adaline looked at the two, surprised. "You two snogged?"

"Multiple times," Nate confirmed.

"Do you need us to do it again?" Marlene asked.

"Might prove helpful."

Marlene looked at Nate who shrugged and they leaned in and kissed for a few seconds, this time a little more passionately than the first time, their mouths moving softly against each other in sync.

"Okay," Adaline said throwing a grape at them to break them apart. "Wow. Did not see that coming. I mean I figured you had a crush on him but I also figured you'd be painful about it and you'd do the thing that you do."

"I don't have a thing!" Marlene complained.

"You do," Alice, Adaline and Nate said all at the same time.

She nudged Nate, "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Just because we're dating doesn't mean I'm going to be nice."

"Charming." Marlene bit into a piece of toast. "What's the Lily schedule today?"

"Sirius is working out a way to un-confund her so we have been asked to stay away," Adaline informed her.

"Oh. And she's sure she's confunded?"

"She's sure," Alice confirmed. "What I want to know is why Brown would want to frame James."

"Other than to save his own neck?" Nate asked.

"No, Alice has a point," Marlene frowned. "This isn't the first time he's tried to pin it on James."

"Mia Scott," Adaline realised.

"Shivers, I'd almost forgotten about that," Nate frowned. "That is interesting."

"I was thinking," Alice proposed, "How about we go have a little chat with Alex Brown during first period?"

Marlene bit her lip, "I don't know, Al. No one is supposed to talk to Brown without a teacher."

"And do you really think Brown will talk in front of a teacher?" Adaline raised her brow. "I'm in."

"I — all right," Marlene sighed. "For Lily and James."

* * *

They hung back after breakfast, waiting for most of the teachers to leave the Great Hall before slinking out. Adaline had to admit, it was thrilling to hear the warning bell for the first lesson of the day and not hurry off to class, like a true act of rebellion but even more satisfying because it was for a good cause.

"Della?"

She froze and cursed. "Go on ahead," she told her friends before turning to face Thomas. "Hey." She plastered a smile on her face to match the smile that crossed his face.

"I thought I could walk with you to Transfiguration," he said brightly before leaning in to press a small kiss to the corner of her lips.

She smiled uncomfortably. "Actually, uh, we aren't going to class."

A puzzled look crossed his face. "What? Why?"

"I just, er, can't."

She looked behind her to where her friends waited for her.

"Yeah but why?"

She looked at her friends again. Marlene shook her head. "I can't say. I'm sorry!" She grabbed his hands, squeezing them before running off, leaving Thomas alone in the Entrance Hall greatly unsatisfied.

"I don't like lying to him," Adaline muttered to Marlene as they walked briskly through the corridors.

"Well, it was more omission of the truth," Marlene consoled but that did not make Adaline feel much better.

"Besides, it's for Lily," Alice supplied.

"Yeah but he doesn't know that."

"Hey, do any of you actually know where Brown is being kept?" Nate pointed out.

"An unused teacher's office, isn't it?"

Alice looked at Marlene alarmed. "There are like fifteen to twenty unused ones all across the castle!"

"Okay so this may take longer than one class."

* * *

Out of all the absurdities that have ever happened in James Potter's life he never imagined that being accused of attempted murder not once but twice would be one of them. Nor did he think he'd ever have to sit in front of a gloating Auror Pierce ever again.

She was as cold as he remembered. Ice blue eyes with no hint of thawing out. Pin straight hair, blonde enough to be mistaken for a Malfoy. A face so sharp that not even a smile could soften it up … not that James had ever seen the woman smile but he had an imagination and he imagined that someone like Auror Pierce did not know the meaning of the word happy or love. If she did, she would not be sitting here accusing James of trying to kill Lily.

Apparently, Auror Pierce also had an imagination though and apparently that did not bode well in James' favour.

"I imagine that you had thought you'd deceived everyone," she said, resting her chin on her bony hands. "The only question I have is why Miss Evans covered for you after the first allegations."

"She didn't cover for me, I didn't do it."

Auror Pierce shook her head. "No. You see, I think you threatened Miss Evans and she told a lie, gave you an alibi but Miss Evans, star student of Hogwarts, started feeling guilty. I think she threatened to tell the teachers and that's why you tried to kill her."

"I didn't try to kill her," James said, his hands balling up into white fists. "I saved her. Twice. All you have is speculation."

"I have a _motive_ ," she corrected. "Your wand was examined, Mr Potter. The slicing curse came from your wand and the healing spell came from Mr Brown's."

"And if you examined them properly, you would also know that the skin gouging spell came from Brown's wand and that Brown has a chunk of his nose missing."

"Proves nothing," Pierce brushed aside, "The spell could've rebounded."

"That's ridiculous!"

"I've seen crazier things happen. Unfortunate accidents happen in an altercation."

"How far back did you check his wand?" James questioned.

"The last ten spells."

"Check further and I'm sure you'd find the slicing curse that had Steven Nettles in the Hospital Wing last night."

"That's a confident accusation."

"It's not an accusation, it's an informed fact. I didn't hurt Lily. She's my girlfriend and we are happy!"

"Really? Because Professor McGonagall tells me that you two were heard fighting in the corridors after curfew a few nights ago."

James shook his head. "Not that it is any of your business but we made up on Sunday morning and all of our friends can attest to that."

"Convenient for you that you just happened to make up right before she was fatally wounded."

James narrowed his eyes. "Auror Pierce, Lily and I are in a very happy relationship, I am not denying that we don't fight and bicker sometimes — I would be more worried if we didn't — but we are happy and I would rather face Voldemort himself than hurt a hair on Lily's hair."

Auror Pierce pursed her lips at the declaration of devotion that a seventeen year old boy seemed to have to another girl. "Let's get on with your official statement."

* * *

Ella was apathetic when Thomas Plunkett plopped into the seat next to her seeing it as an invasion of her personal space she coughed, pointedly.

"Don't you have a girlfriend to sit next to?"

"So you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Your friends are skipping class."

"Why?"

"She wouldn't tell me. I thought you would know but looks like you're even more out of the loop than I am."

Ella frowned. She had seen all the girls — except Lily — in the dormitory and they hadn't mentioned anything about skipping class.

"Miss Dearborn, are the rest of you're Gryffindor classmates going to grace us with their presence this morning?" Professor McGonagall asked her and Ella looked around. She was the only one from her dormitory and only the second boys dorm was there minus one Nate McKinnon.

"Our bathroom flooded just after breakfast, the girls are trying to put it right," Ella covered. "And I know Sirius Black felt ill this morning."

"And what about Nate McKinnon and Peter Pettigrew? Are they also ill?"

"I, uh, I think that they-"

Just then, Nate burst into the classroom with Peter not far behind. "Sorry, Professor. A first year was a little lost."

And for the second time that morning, someone else's boyfriend sat next to Ella.

"Where is everyone?" she whispered.

Nate looked across and saw Thomas. He faced back to the front feinting interest in whatever McGonagall was saying and muttered, "Later."

Ella's foot tapped insistently all the way through Transfiguration as though it would somehow make time move faster and she wished that she had a time-turner so she could-

"Professor McGonagall," Nate called and the Professor stopped at their desk.

"Everything all right?" she asked.

"Actually, it's about Lily," Nate continued carefully. Professor McGonagall quirked her brow so slightly it was almost unnoticeable. "You see, she was up all night last night, she's terrified."

"Terrified?" Professor McGonagall said sceptically.

"Terrified," Nate agreed. "She has this crazy idea that if she knew where Brown and Potter were that she'd feel better … _safer_. And I know it sounds silly but I guess her emotions are just running a little high at the moment and if that information helps her to get some sleep," Nate shrugged at the end.

Professor McGonagall frowned. "Perhaps Madam Pomfrey should give her a sleeping potion."

"But do we really want Lily to be reliant on sleeping potions, Professor? You know, most people get addicted to them after they've been used after a traumatic experience because they haven't learnt how to deal with the issue at hand."

Ella wanted to roll her eyes. McGonagall was never going to fall for something like that.

"Very well, McKinnon. You may tell Lily that Potter is being held in unused chambers on the third floor corridor and that Brown is being held in unused chambers on the fifth floor corridor."

She swept away without a further word and Ella kicked Nate.

"What the hell is going on?" she whispered furiously because Lily was not having trouble sleeping, trouble remembering maybe but not sleeping.

" _Later_ ," he insisted.

* * *

"Hello, Alex."

There had been a debate on who should get to speak to Alex Brown and it hadn't taken them long at all to discern that the only person who truly deserved to be the one to do it, was James.

The plan was, despite the lack of a marauder, marauder worthy. It had all the elements of a marauder plan: reckless, insane, and completely mad.

Through casual observation they found out that the two rooms had one ministry official standing guard and thus began the beginning of the plan.

"So what do we do?" Alice asked.

Marlene looked at them like it was obvious. "What a marauder would do, obviously."

And so they spent the better half of an hour devising a plan that ended up being reckless, insane and completely mad but was relatively simple.

At a quarter to eleven on November twenty-eighth, nineteen seventy-seven, Ella Dearborn walked into the fourth floor corridor holding a very full make-up bag, a make-up bag that was not in fact hers. At the exact same time, it just so happened that Alice Vance also entered that very same corridor from the opposite end.

"What are you doing with my make-up?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Disposing of it," Ella replied and from there things escalated until wands were drawn and it was this moment when both Nate and Adaline walked into the corridor together and they decided that help was needed as the two girls threw hex after hex at each other — of course, the hexes missed and harmlessly hit the walls but that was neither here no there.

Nate decided that help could be found on the fifth floor and Adaline decided that help could be found on the third floor. They both managed to _stumble_ across the two ministry officials, how luck of them, and pleaded.

"Please, you have to help! Two girls have gone mad on the fourth floor!"

"Oh, I am so very embarrassed but my roommates are having a feud and it's just gotten out of control on the fourth floor! You have to help!"

Of course, the two ministry officials were reluctant to leave their posts but after another desperate, "Please," they both resigned and followed the two students to the fourth floor corridor.

Here was where Marlene came to play. She'd been hiding around the corner and as soon as Adaline had left with the ministry official guarding James' door, she slipped out and across the corridor entering the room.

"Marlene?" James asked.

"Shh, we haven't got a lot of time. Let's go!" She walked into the room and opened the window though James didn't have a clue why.

"Go? Go where? And why do you have my broom?"

Marlene did indeed have James' broom but she ignored his questions and held the door open. "Come on!" she insisted and James wasn't one to be told twice. He knew a reckless, insane, and completely mad plan when he saw one.

Of course to get to the fifth floor from the third floor they had to go past the fourth floor where Alice and Ella could be seen pleading their case to a pair of ministry officials who could probably not care less.

"She is _always_ doing this! Do you know how many new eyeliners I have had to buy in the last year? Do you? And they aren't cheap either!" she told the ministry official who was pinching his nose. "Thirty galleons a bottle!"

"Your fault for buying such expensive rubbish and then leaving it all over the vanity like you own the place!" Ella retorted. "I mean seriously! Everyone else packs their things away, I don't see why you can't!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you!" Alice shouted, "Your stupid poster of _The Fire Dragons_ roars — _roars_! — Do you know how many nights it has woken me up but you don't see me throwing it out without asking!"

"Typical," Ella accused.

Marlene suppressed a grin as she led James up another stairwell, their voices fading.

"Where are we going?" he hissed. "What's going on?"

"You're going to have a chat to Alex Brown."

And so they found the room Brown was being kept in and it was, as they saw to it, unguarded and James slipped inside with his broom without issue with Marlene staying outside as a look out.

And here they were.

"Hello, Alex."

* * *

Lily sat cross legged on the floor, ready to get the image of James cursing her neck open out of her head.

Sirius stood behind her, his wand trained on the centre of her head and he closed his eyes in concentration and muttered the spell.

Lily screwed up her face in pain, apparently it hurt to be un-confunded.

Sirius was glad he kept his eyes shut because he didn't know if he'd be able to keep his concentration if he saw her tortured expression.

Lily's eyes widened as memories flooded back in.

Sirius stepped back as he finished the spell.

"Well?" he asked expectantly.

Lily pressed her hands to her temples, trying to rub the headache away.

"Well?" he repeated, impatience lacing his voice.

Lily looked up and smiled weakly. "Brown's a son of a bitch," and the story came spilling out and she finished with, "Get Pierce here."

* * *

"How'd you get into my room?" Brown asked, and James detected a hint of fear flash across his face.

"Teleported," James said sarcastically. He pulled up a chair and sat down opposite Brown. "The real question is, why are you framing me?"

"So I don't get the blame for it."

James shoo his head, "Nah, I don't reckon that's quite it. You see, with Mia Scott you could have picked anyone in this entire school and yet you chose me. Why?"

Brown seemed to consider something for a moment and then, "Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "I hate you. Everything always came so easily to you, quidditch, marks, friends, _girls_. Everyone likes you except the Slytherins and I spent a good amount of time wanting to be like you until I realised the Slytherins might be onto something.

"You are a conceited, inflated egotistical sod! You think you are better than everyone else and you step on anyone who is below you … you're the leader of your little band of marauders and even though we shared a dorm you never looked twice at me. You decided I was unworthy and now, this is your karma."

James narrowed his eyes. "That's it? Because we aren't friends you've decided that my punishment is Azkaban." James almost let out a laugh. "You're actually fucking mental! You do realise your little story isn't going to hold up in a trial? You didn't do a very good job confunding my girlfriend because as soon as she woke up, she knew that what she remembered wasn't right. They're working on breaking your little handy work right now but even without Lily, all they'd have to do is examine the spells you've performed in the last month. I don't know how far into the Dark Arts you've explored but I do know that there should be a few sectumsempra spells-"

Whistling sounded from the corridor, curtesy of Marlene, and James stood, walking over to open the window, the brisk air sending goosebumps up his arms.

"The only one who'll be receiving karma, is you and I think you'll find that you'll be the one in Azkaban."

With that James jumped out the window and onto his broom. With no difficulty at all, he spotted the only open window on this cold November day and flew in, closing the window behind him and stuffing the broom in the closet before jumping on the bed as though he had been there the whole time and not a moment too soon because the door opened and the ministry official, Albert, surveyed the room before nodding, seemingly satisfied.

"Tough day, Bertie?" James asked.

Albert did not answer, he just closed the door and a grin spread across James' face.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi Guys! Sorry for the really delayed update :/ I've been heaps busy with uni and work but here it is._

 _I also wanted to ask, do you guys prefer if this is a Jily lives AU or for it to end on Oct 31st with the Jily death?_

 _Currently it's written as a Jily lives AU but I've been having second thoughts on whether I should change it._

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _-Natalie x_


	20. Chapter 19: Christmas Time, Family Time

James was free to leave his room (glorified cell) at the exact same moment Lily was given the all clear by Madam Pomfrey. Lily stayed as long as she had to and not a moment longer before dashing straight out of the Hospital Wing and Sirius considered following but he knew where she was off to and thought he'd rather not experience the snogging that was no doubt to follow once she found who she was looking for.

Lily tore through the corridors, rushing past students who were lining up for their next classes and not paying them any mind at all. Her only thought: James, James, James.

She was on the second floor when she spotted him rounding the corner. He appeared just as frantic as her, his hand running through his hair until his eyes landed on her and a grin spread across his face as a grin spread across hers.

Lily couldn't help it, she started running down the corridor and he jogged. They met in the middle, crashing together, catching each other as they stumbled backwards. James leaned back wanting to look at her face. Everyone had told him she was fine but he needed to check for himself. He cupped her face in his hands and looked at her.

"I'm fine," she whispered, a smile on her lips. "Absolutely fine."

James kissed her forehead. "I don't believe you for a second."

She reached up, on the tip of her toes and pressed her lips lightly on his. "I'm just glad you're not a convicted murderer."

"Funny," James mused. "Come on, you should rest."

Their plan to lay in bed and do nothing was interrupted when they walked into the common room to see a full blown party in swing.

* * *

Ella folded her arms and stalked up to Sirius because who else planned these significantly annoying parties in the common room? No one, it could only be Sirius Black.

"Is a party really bloody appropriate?" she asked him.

"A party is always appropriate."

"Lily almost died and our house mate was convicted of murder and attempted-murder."

"Exactly. People need to get their feelings out."

"And a party is the way to do that?"

"People get a lot of things off their chest when they're drunk."

"People also become loud when they're drunk," Ella huffed.

"People become fun," he corrected.

"They become irresponsible and obnoxious."

"Didn't know you were allergic to fun."

"I'm not," she insisted.

"Here then," he said shoving his drink at her so she had no choice but to take it. She looked at it apprehensively. "It won't kill you, Dearborn."

With that he walked off to his mates leaving her alone with a drink and all she could think was, this is why dad gambles because of this stupid substance that everyone thinks is so great. She set the drink down and shut herself up in her dormitory.

She buried herself in a book and she was four chapters in when Marlene came stumbling in, off her face and sprawled herself across Ella's bed.

"Ellie, I don't think I like this world anymore." She rolled onto her stomach. "It's mean and cruel."

"It's life, Marls and don't call me Ellie."

"Life shouldn't be like this," she slurred. "It should be rainbow and cupcakes and smiles. Not death, blood and gloom."

"How many did you have?"

"A few. Nate cut me off so I came to complain to you."

"So more than a few then," Ella deduced. "Lovely."

Marlene squinted at her. "Come have a drink with me."

"I think you've had enough."

"Not nearly," Marlene assured. "Please?"

Ella frowned but Marlene snatched the book out of her hand and threw it across the room. "Oi!"

"Let's go," Marlene ordered.

* * *

"It's over."

Adaline's smile froze. "What?"

"It's over," Thomas repeated. "I really like you Adaline but I can't," he shook his head, "I'm never going to be part of your group and you don't take any interest in mine."

"I," she paused. She'd never done this before. Maybe if she had, she would have known what words to say to make him stay. Maybe if she had, she would've fought harder. But she hadn't and all she could feel was this crippling feeling in her throat so all she did was nod. She nodded and then she walked away. There was nothing else to be said.

She hadn't been in love with Tommy, not yet anyway but that was the point. She probably could have been in the sloppy, reckless way everybody fell in love for the first time. So she waited until he was out of sight before she let the first tear fall and she waited until she was a corridor away from the Gryffindor common room before drying her eyes and then she walked straight into the party.

The party she'd left to go find Tommy so she could bring him. She tried to push that out of her mind though.

Marlene and Ella were doing shots with James and Lily and Adaline was quick to join. Then entered Sirius Black into the mix. Things always seemed to get just a little more lethal when Sirius Black was involved.

"Let's play never have I ever," he suggested with a smirk that dared everyone to protest.

Lily wagged her eyebrows. "Never have I ever suggested to play never have I ever."

"Wow, Evans," he rolled his eyes taking a shot. "Never have I ever snogged James."

Lily rolled her eyes this time but drank up.

"Never have I ever been dumped before," Adaline blurted, before downing a drink.

Lily and Ella looked at Adaline. "What?"

"Tommy dumped me."

"Oh, honey," Lily sympathised and Marlene slipped an arm around Adaline's shoulders.

"Fuck him then," Ella brushed off. "Never have I ever dated a git."

"Don't you dare drink that," James warned Lily who giggled and downed her shot as James glared at her with a playful stare.

The game progressed until they became so sloshed that they were just blurting their problems out and drinking instead of actually playing the game.

"I actually liked him and he dumped me," Adaline whined, taking a shot.

"At least you haven't been almost killed. Twice," Lily countered.

"At least you haven't been accused of attempted murder. Twice."

"At least you haven't been disowned by your family."

"Does it count if my sister has sort of disowned me?"

"At least you people have siblings. I was an only child."

"You people have so many problems," Ella complained. "I mean really, Lily your sister is a hag but you have us so who's really complaining? And Black, your family are racist pigs, honestly you've done better with the Potters. And James, was being an only child of a rich, pure-blood couple really a hardship for you? Della, Tommy was like, average and boring, you could do better. Also you didn't die and you didn't go to Azkaban so I'd say you're both good."

"Well then what are your problems if you seem to think ours are so trivial?" he dared.

* * *

Ella narrowed her eyes. He knew what problems she had but that didn't make it his business.

"I don't make them other people's business," she retorted.

"Oh come on, Ella," Marlene said exasperated. "What about your dad's gambling problem? We're your friends, you can tell us this stuff…" Marlene seemed to realise what she had said however and clapped her hand over her mouth.

Ella stood up and stormed out of the common room. Only one person had known. Only one and that had been Marlene. And now Adaline, Lily, James and Sirius all knew.

She didn't know where she was going all she knew was that it was away but it wasn't long before she heard footsteps approaching and Sirius Black stood in front of her.

"What?" she asked harshly.

"I don't want to be here anymore than you do."

"Then why are you?"

"Pulled the short straw," he admitted. "So your dad gambles. Can't be that bad."

Ella rolled her eyes. "My brother has moved out of the house because of it and my allowance was cut down to three galleons a month. You don't know shit."

"Okay so maybe it's pretty bad."

Ella crossed her arms. "Go away."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Yes, well you have the tact of a bloody dragon so please just go."

Sirius raised an eyebrow and said, "Fine." Before walking off. She waited until his footsteps faded before slumping.

He may have the tact of a dragon but she had the temper of one. Maybe she was just more angry because her mother insisted she come home for Christmas. That had been her one hopeful thought, that she'd get to avoid home until June and then she could keep avoiding it by moving out but that wasn't going to be the case when her mother personally wrote to McGonagall to make sure Ella would be home.

It's not that Ella didn't love her parents. She did but these people didn't feel like her parents anymore. The man who drunk and gambled. The woman too pathetic to leave him. She hated them.

She didn't go back to the Gryffindor Tower until grey light started to fill the corridor she was in and she found everyone sleeping in the dormitory. Lily and Marlene were in the same bed though, they'd probably tried to wait up for her but Ella didn't want to talk to Marlene.

Marlene wasn't the most trustworthy but she'd promised to keep Ella's secret. She covered for Ella with Alice's make-up. She'd been the only one who had known and a condition of that was that she couldn't tell anyone else but she'd told and Ella was mad. The kind of petty mad that made Ella want to tell a secret of Marlene's except she didn't have any bloody secrets because she was so bloody open with everyone.

Exhausted enough not to care in that moment, Ella went to bed though and when she woke she was alone in the room.

* * *

When the Knight Bus stopped in front of James' house Lily gasped. The property was surrounded by tall, stone walls with iron gates in the middle. The stone house inside the property was best described as a palace. It was symmetrical with eight windows on the running across all three levels and huge double doors in the middle. The drive leading up to the huge double doors was lined with medium sized hedges, which were snow capped. Blooming pink flowers snaked up the walls, framing windows and the front door so perfectly there wasn't a doubt in Lily's mind that magic was involved — as if pink blooming flowers in the middle of winter weren't a big enough giveaway. Snow covered the roof of the house and the grounds but someone seemed to have cleared the snow from the driveway making it easier to haul their trunks.

Lily remained silent as she took everything in, marvelling at just how wealthy the Potter family must be to have a house like this and the inside of the house didn't disappoint.

The foyer was extravagant. There was a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a grand double staircase, that Lily felt compelled to point out was marble, led upstairs with an intricately carved railing that gleamed. The floors were also marble and looked as though they had been polished only yesterday. To the right there was a huge archway that led to what looked like a library or a very large study, and to the left was an identical archway that led to a dining room and further on, what looked like a drawing room.

On a raised platform, where the grand staircase started, were two smaller archways on either side of the staircase leading to some sort of open space and Lily could catch glimpses of the backyard through glass doors.

Lily stared around in wonder, everything was so extravagant and she'd only seen the foyer.

James flicked her and she flicked him back.

"Your house is excessive," she told him.

"You should see the rest of it," he commented and she nudged him. "Come on, let's find mum."

The excessiveness of the house, Lily was debating on whether the term palace worked better, was further proven when the search for James' mother saw Lily through a small maze of corridors and doors, through the dining room, into a drawing room, through a door into a corridor, right into another, sunnier corridor, opened the door to a kitchen, ignored the kitchen, bypassed another closed door, opened the door to another dining room. James frowned, "Must be on the other side of the house then." Back up that corridor, taking a left at the end through to a wide corridor with red panelled walls and portraits of various people that Lily did not recognise. The corridor also had three sets of french, double doors that led to a porch that led to the back of the property and another set of more magnificent doors where voices could be heard.

"Ah, must be setting up for Christmas," Sirius commented and then, "Do we really want to go in there? She'll make us help."

"Sirius," Lily scolded as James led the way through the doors and Lily's jaw dropped.

The ballroom was magnificent with two story high ceilings and a curved double staircase, again marble, that led to an overhead balcony. Three large windows were evenly spaced on the right and left hand walls and the back wall featured a large, arched glass door that led out to some sort of balcony or porch.

Mrs Potter could be seen near the back surrounded by half opened boxes and three house elves, in front of six, tall Christmas trees that Lily assumed still needed to be moved into place.

"Wonderful, you lot got here just in time," Euphemia exclaimed. "We've just started with the trees. Oh, Miss Evans! Lovely to see you again," she greeted, her hazel eyes twinkling.

Euphemia was just as Lily remembered, with greying black hair and a warm smile, wearing the best witches fashion in silk, plum robes tied with a rope at the waist.

"Just Lily," Lily corrected, "And it's lovely to see you too, Mrs Potter and thank you for letting me spend Christmas here."

"It's just Mia, dear, and of course, the more the merrier!"

"Don't believe her," Sirius grumbled, "She just wants more people to help her set up for her party."

"Now, now Sirius, don't go scaring the guests away. So, Lily, what's your take on Christmas?"

Lily grinned. "Love it."

"Wonderful. After James shows you your room, you can come help me."

"Mum, Lily doesn't want to."

"Are you kidding me?" Lily turned to James. "I've never seen wizard Christmas."

"Hogwarts?" James pointed out.

"That's different," Lily insisted, ignoring the fact that she'd only stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas once and turning to Euphemia. "I'd be glad to help."

* * *

Marlene and Nate apparated to a quiet lane in Chudleigh before lugging their trunks across to their houses, Aria and Henry were walking way ahead of them, wanting to get out of the cold but Marlene didn't mind the walk especially now that her time with Nate would be limited. Nothing with their two families were ever quiet or lonely.

"So we're going to James' fancy Christmas Eve party if you want to join?" Nate asked, their clasped hands swinging between them.

"You mean James' _mothers'_ fancy Christmas Eve party."

"Lily will be there."

"So will snotty, old purebloods."

"Ella will most likely be there too," he continued.

"I don't want to go. It'll be dull."

"I'll be there," Nate tried again. "Besides do you really think Potter doesn't have a secret party upstairs for all of us?"

Marlene considered. "You're going to make me come with you, aren't you?"

"Yep. Do your parents know about us?"

"No … yours?"

"No, just my sisters."

"Your sisters tell your mum everything."

"It's not my fault that Aria can't keep her mouth shut. She blabbed to Faith first moment."

"I suppose we'll have to bite the bullet," Marlene frowned.

"Is that really a bad thing?"

No," she smiled softly, slipping her hand in his. "I suppose it isn't."

Marlene barely had any time to fret about how she would break the news to her parents when they noticed their mothers and siblings chatting across the fence.

"Marlene Adams, when were you going to tell me that you and Nate were dating?"

"Mum," Marlene said, "We're dating."

"Looks like Faith can't keep her mouth shut either," Nate muttered.

"Oh please, I did you two a favour," Faith assured and though Marlene didn't want to admit it, Faith rather did save them an awkward conversation with their parents.

They all ended up in Marlene's living room, exchanging the latest going-ons over tea and biscuits as Marlene inspected the Christmas tree and adjusted baubles and ornaments as she pleased. The McKinnons ended up staying for dinner, as predicted by all the Adams and McKinnon children and later that night when Marlene and Nate slipped upstairs like they always did, Kate Adams hollered, "Door open!"

"Mum!" Marlene complained.

"I mean it!"

Marlene left the door open and sighed, "Good bye sleepovers."

* * *

Ella was not greeted by anyone at the train station as she requested and instead of apparating home as she'd promised her mum she'd do, she apparated to her brother's apartment in London. It was in a red building on the corner of two busy streets and she looked around nervously before pulling her hood up and trudging into the building and up the stairs to the second floor.

She knocked on the door with gold letters telling her it was apartment number eight.

"Mum know you're here?" he asked a moment after he opened the door.

"What do you think?" she muttered.

"Come in then." He pushed the door open further and let her in.

"You can't avoid them forever."

"Why not? You do." She walked down a narrow corridor that eventually opened into a living room and kitchen.

"I work in London, it just makes more sense, besides… nevermind."

The space was sparsely decorated, just a comfy set of cream couches, a wooden coffee table and some stools under the kitchen bench. No bookcases, no fruit basket, no ornamental pieces. Just furniture.

"Nevermind what?" she inquired.

"Nevermind," he repeated. "You should talk to mum again about leaving dad."

"It's not going to do any good," she grumbled.

"It might."

"Can't you come home for Christmas? I don't think I can deal with mum for a whole week."

"I'll be at the Potters for Christmas Eve and then I'll stay the night for Christmas."

"I hope you know that you're throwing me to the wolves."

"You'll be back at Hogwarts soon."

"Not soon enough," Ella grumbled. "I don't see why I have to be stuck with them."

Caradoc pursed his lips. "They're still our parents, Ella."

"They don't act like it."

"I know it's hard but," he paused, "Everything will sort itself out."

"Bullocks."

"It will. You'll see. You should go before mum starts to worry."

Ella shook her head. "Just a bit longer."

Caradoc nodded.

It was precisely twenty-seven minutes when Ella decided she could not put off the inevitable any longer and she stood.

"Promise you'll come by tomorrow?"

Caradoc smiled. They didn't look much alike. They were the kind of siblings who laughed when strangers claimed resemblance between the two. Caradoc was a lot more warmer than Ella was. His eyes were a soft brown, his almost honey blonde hair fell into his eyes and his natural state was happy. Caradoc Dearborn was the 'find the silver-lining' kind of person, the kind of awfully optimistic that Ella hated in everyone else but she couldn't help loving it in her brother.

Ella always saw herself as the opposite of how she was supposed to be. She was blunt and sometimes tactless. Her resting face didn't smile but rather emitted a 'get the fuck away from me' aura. She was resigned to the fact that her mum would never leave her dad and she was also resigned to the fact that her dad wouldn't stop gambling and he definitely wouldn't stop drinking no matter the consequences.

Caradoc on the other hand, he expressed optimism in all of that. Ella just didn't see the point in it.

Caradoc pulled her into a hug. "Everything will be all right."

She didn't think it would but she'd survive. "I'll see you soon." She stepped away and didn't look back, afraid she wouldn't be able to leave if she did and as soon as she was in a safe spot she turned and appeared in front of the Dearborn Manor.

* * *

Sirius walked up into the attic with a newspaper and said, "Brown's been sentenced twenty years."

"I saw."

"It should've been-"

"Don't say it."

"Life."

"Damn it, Padfoot," James cursed because of course Brown should have been sentenced life to Azkaban. The only reason why he didn't was because Brown was still school age which was complete bullshit because he was seventeen and should have been trialled as an of age wizard.

"Sorry … Lily still helping Mia out then?"

James nodded. He had wondered more than once over the past hour what they could have possibly been talking about. James didn't think he was wrong to be worried. His mum had no filter and Lily was the first girl he'd ever brought home so he had cause to be a little anxious at the thought of his mum and his girlfriend in the same room for, what was now, over an hour.

"Do you think your mum's told her the story about how you wrote to Santa for a love potion to make Lily like you in second year?"

James' eyes widened. "She wouldn't." But this was Euphemia Potter and leaving Lily alone in a room with her was a bad, very bad idea. "Shit."

Euphemia had never shied away from telling an embarrassing story about James. She had told Dumbledore that James used to 'play' Dumbledore when he was little — a game where James would reenact the final battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald wearing his mother's purple robes and usually with a paper beard.

"Fancy a look in the ballroom?"

"I bloody think not," Sirius scoffed. "Do you know how lucky it is that we aren't down there right now?"

James rolled his eyes but stood up anyways. "You're a coward." With that he trotted down the spiral steps into his room.

Opting to go through the doors that led directly into the ballroom from the first floor, James unlocked them with a password and a tap of his wand. Closing them behind him softly, he walked to the marble railing of the balcony.

Lily was floating several ornaments around a Christmas tree that was towered over her and James watched from his spot as with a twist of her wrist, the ornaments hung themselves in desired spots.

"You've such a good eye," Euphemia commented. "The boys have such bad judgement."

"Oi," James protested making his presence known and starting the descent down the curved staircase.

His mother glanced at him. "Well, it's true."

"Did you ever think that I did a terrible job so you'd stop asking me to help?" James proposed.

"You're not that cunning."

Lily stifled a laugh. "Come to help have you?" she asked.

"No," James assured. "Just came to make sure you didn't want to escape my mad mum."

"No, no. She's been telling me all sorts of stories."

James winced. "That sounds … lovely."

Euphemia's eyes twinkled. "I told her about the time I found you crawling in your own vomit."

"My personal favourite," Lily started, smirking, "Is the one where you used to pretend the mop was a flying broom and you'd run around the house narrating the most ridiculous Quidditch matches."

" _Mum_ ," James groaned.

"Yes, dear?"

James rolled his eyes before sighing. "Can Lily be excused because I feel like you've stolen my girlfriend?"

"Oh, I suppose. We've pretty much finished anyways."

"Are you sure, Mia?" Lily asked, already sticking her wand in her back pocket.

"Yes, yes go relax before dinner. Monty should be arriving home at any moment."

With no further ado, James dragged Lily back up the staircase and said, "Now onto funner parts of the house," and led her to his bedroom and up the spiral staircase to the attic.

"The attic is in your bedroom?" she asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked around.

The attic was pretty boring really but twelve year old James had begged his parents to let him move into the room with direct access to it like his life depended on it. It was a large space with old couches and odd bits of furniture placed about and unpolished french doors, the wood cracking off, led to a terrace that had a huge glass dome sticking out of it. His current room was smaller than his old one, which Lily now occupied, but the Marauders had made the attic into something of a nest the last couple of years. It was the room that inspired the Marauders Map. The room they'd studied up on animagi in. The room where they'd come up with half their pranks.

"So what's the deal with this party your mum's throwing anyways?"

Sirius sat up suddenly and truth be told, Lily didn't even know he was there for he was lying in a couch pressed the wrong way into a wall. "You, Evans, are about to experience your first ever pure-blood party."

"Uh-huh and how fancy are we talking?"

James shrugged. "Mum will lend you something." James paused. "Either that or she'll take you to Diagon Alley."

Lily nodded and then, "Will I be meeting all of your family then?"

"Uh," James ruffled a hand through his hair. "Yes … okay?" James asked her for she looked slightly pale.

"Right as rain," she said faintly.

"I think she's going to pass out."

"Yes, thank you, Sirius," she clipped. "Just a bit overwhelmed. I mean your house is a practically a palace — I don't even want to see the second floor — and you're mum all but called me her daughter and now I'm meeting the entire family."

"Oh and Brown only got sentenced twenty years to Azkaban."

James glared at Sirius. "What on earth made you think _this_ was a good time to drop _that_?"

"Only twenty," Lily repeated softly. "Oh."

James walked over to her cautiously, studying her face as she seemed to process everything. She grabbed his arm as he steered her to a couch and forced her to sit and then sat next to her.

"If it makes you feel better, the McKinnons and Dearborns always come to my mum's Christmas parties," James piped.

"And you shouldn't feel special, Mia adopts everybody as her surrogate child. I'm case point," Sirius added.

"And the house is an arsehole. It vanishes anything left on the stairs. Do you know how many shoes this house has claimed into the void?"

"And we're the Marauders we can sort Brown out as soon as he gets back to the mainland."

Lily cracked a sly grin. "Did you just propose murder?"

"I'm already planning it," Sirius said seriously. "I mean one good hex right next to a mountain cliff, just strong enough to have him toppling over the side … we wouldn't even have to worry about a body."

* * *

Alice Vance was quite surprised to be finding out that this year, the Vances would be attending a Christmas Eve party hosted by Druella Black, also known as the mother of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, also known as her aunt, also known as her dad's sister.

Emmeline had thrown a fit. Alice had thrown a fit. Their mum remained tight-lipped. Their dad projected false optimism that it would be a grand night.

It was with dread that the two sisters dressed in their best robes together, doing each other's make-up and hair.

"Do you think we'll actually have to talk to Bella?" Emmeline wondered out loud.

Alice frowned. "What's your grudge against her lately anyways?"

Bellatrix had always been a little crazy and she was the least liked of the three Black cousins but lately, Emmeline had expressed a deeper hatred for her.

Emmeline pursed her lips. "Alice, I — just stay away from her."

"That's not an answer."

"Leave it."

"Come on, Emmy, just tell me."

"I'm not supposed to say." Emmeline stood up now and turned away from Alice but that only made Alice more determined.

"Why?"

"Please, just leave it. You'll understand one day."

"If I'm going to know one day, why can't I know now?" Alice pressed.

Emmeline bit her lip and then, "You have to swear to secrecy!"

Alice didn't dare smirk, if Emmeline caught onto Alice's satisfaction it would change her mind so instead she kept a smooth face and said, "Of course."

"No, you have to promise," Emmeline insisted.

"All right, I promise."

"You can't even tell Frank."

"I", Alice faltered for a moment before repeating, "All right, I promise."

Emmeline hesitated and then with a flick of her wand shut the door closed and placed a silencing charm.

"Emmy," Alice said uneasily, "What's all this about?"

"The Order of The Phoenix."

"The Order of the what?"

"The Order of The Phoenix," Emmeline repeated. "It's an order started by Dumbledore. A bunch of people are in it, including me."

"Okay," Alice said slowly, "And what does this have to do with Bella?"

"The Order, we fight against Voldemort. A secret resistance if you will." Emmeline paused letting it sink in and then, "Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband are death eaters."

* * *

Ella was in the foyer of her home five minutes before they were to leave. She had cleaned up well — she usually did. She was wearing royal blue robes that tied at the waist and she'd done her make-up and curled her hair so it bounced on her shoulders. She was ready to leave.

"Mum!" she shouted but it was her dad who responded stumbling out of a corridor wearing his dress robes. "Oh no," she denied immediately. "You cannot come!"

"Quiet," he demanded.

"Dad, you're drunk! You can't even walk straight!" Her mother, Anita Dearborn, walked out a moment later wearing burgundy robes, her hair in an intricate bun and enough make-up on her eyes to cover the fading bruise. Ella turned to her mum. "He can't come," she said flatly.

"He very well can't not come," Anita tsked. "What would everyone say?"

"I don't give a shit-"

Smack. Whatever Ella had planned to say was lost as her father's hand slashed across her face.

"Let's go," he ordered.

Ella walked to the fireplace, threw in the floo powder and stepped into the green flames and said, "Seaside Estate."

She stepped out to be greeted by Lily, James and Sirius.

"Hello, cousin," James greeted.

"Only second," she replied grouchily, "Do we really have to acknowledge that out loud? Hi, Lily. Sirius."

"Dearborn," Sirius returned.

"Ella, you look gorgeous and Merlin, are you actually wearing make-up?"

"Afraid so."

"Don't be fooled, Lily. She always wears make-up," James snitched.

"Only to events like these."

The flames burst and out stepped her parents. "Alcohol?" she asked Sirius.

"House elves are serving champagne. If you want heavier stuff … upstairs Red Room."

"I guess that's where you'll find me then," she muttered before stalking off as she could hear James reacquaint Lily with her parents. Anita and Albert Dearborn. She could hear them chatting politely through the introductions and all Ella could think was, what a joke?

She made her way up the two staircases to the second floor and into the Red Room where a table of liquor was waiting and she poured herself a double shot of Firewhiskey before downing it and then another.

* * *

Lily had met so many of James' relatives that their names were falling out of her head, much less the gossip of who they did and didn't like and so by the time Sirius suggested they take a break and sneak up to the second party, Lily agreed.

"Lily!" someone shouted as they were halfway up the stairs and Lily turned to see none other than Marlene Adams and Nate McKinnon arm in arm.

"Marls!" Lily greeted. "Nate! Come upstairs, we've better alcohol."

"Told you," Nate wagged his eyebrows at Marlene.

"Shut up," Marlene said walking ahead. "And Lily you look stunning!"

Lily looked down at the pale blue dress robes with gold floral stitching running through it that she wore and smiled. James had been right about Euphemia taking Lily out to Diagon Alley to find something to wear and Lily had always thought the fashion of dress robes to be rather boring and straightforward but she had found out that that was not the case. Robes came in all different styles and colours apparently. Tight-fitting ones, leather ones, ones that showed your feet, ones that plunged down maybe a little too far, ones that floated like clouds, ones with full skirts, ones with corsets stitched into them and so on.

Lily had tried on half a dozen before she decided on the ones she was wearing. They were made from chiffon and were clipped in at the bust before dropping to the floor in an elegant sweep and Euphemia had done Lily's hair up in a sleek bun. James had almost stopped breathing when he saw her.

"Thanks," Lily grinned, "So do you."

Marlene waved it off. "Faith lent me some robes."

"You look great," Lily insisted as they entered the Red Room.

The Red Room on the second floor was distinguished by red panelled walls with cream carpet and red couches with mahogany framing facing a white fireplace that had a fire roaring inside it. The room boasted an array of things from a pool table to a chess set and a gold telescope pointing out the window. A glass cabinet stood against one wall with a variety of crystal bottles holding all sorts of liquor so expensive that the cabinet had been charmed shut with a password by Fleamont Potter himself.

Sirius shoved a drink in her hand and she didn't hesitate to down it as Marlene watched with a sparkle in her eye.

"Don't judge," Lily insisted, "I've just met so many Potters that my own name is falling out of my head."

Marlene laughed, "No judgement. Is Ella around?"

"She's pretty tipsy," Sirius supplied, pointing to Ella who was talking to one of James' cousins.

"Is she wearing make-up?" Marlene asked.

"I know," Lily giggled.

Marlene and Nate departed to say hello to Ella and Lily found James talking to two of his cousins that she had met very briefly, Isabella Greenglass and Eliza Hocking. They were both first cousins from James' mum's side.

"Lily," James said brightly and she went and stood next to him. "You remember Isabella and Eliza?"

She nodded but before she could open her mouth.

"Of course she remembers us, we only met an hour ago," Isabella quipped.

"She's met a lot of people, Izzy," Eliza reminded her. "Mia does have a lot of friends and we aren't exactly a small family."

"Oh, right. Muggleborn," Isabella said and Lily spared a glance at James. "Do you know anyone here?"

"Just a few people from school," Lily supplied, "Sirius, Ella Dearborn, Marlene Adams and Nate McKinnon. Oh and Nicolea Flawley."

"Adams?" Isabella asked. "I don't think I've heard of that name before."

"She's a guest of the McKinnon family and a friend of ours," James said, eyeing his cousin oddly.

"Oi! Prongs! Time to go back down or mum will get suss!" Sirius shouted and James looked over his shoulder and nodded.

"Coming?" James asked Lily.

"I'll be down in a minute," she assured him. "I'll just finish my drink."

James placed a kiss on her cheek before running off with Sirius.

"So you guys are a little older than James right?" Lily asked.

"Yes," Eliza answered, "We're seven years older than James, but we," she gestured to her cousin and herself, "Were born in the same year."

"That would've been fun at Hogwarts," Lily remarked.

"Isabella was a Ravenclaw. I was Gryffindor so we didn't really run in the same circle of friends."

"Oh but still," Lily shrugged, she would have liked to have gone to school with family. "What do you guys do now?"

"I don't like you," Isabella announced.

"Izzy!" Eliza gasped. "I'm so sorry, Lily."

"Don't apologise to her," Isabella snapped. "She shouldn't even be here."

Lily was at a loss. She didn't think she'd done anything particular to warrant immediate dislike from her.

"She's been stringing James along for years. Everyone knows it. Why do you think he was never able to get over her?" she asked Eliza. "It's a terribly muggle thing to do."

Lily's eyebrow hitched up at that and then she looked into her glass. There was enough left to make it count and so she did. She jerked her arm forward tilting the glass so its contents spilled onto Isabella's silver dress robes. Isabella gasped looking down at her ruined garment.

"Whoops! How terribly _muggle_ of me," Lily quipped before walking away to find James downstairs.

The ballroom was full of well dressed people holding flutes of champagne and chatting happily over the classical music the instruments played at the front of the room and it took a moment for Lily to spot James. He was talking to an older couple and the man had messy black hair. A Potter, Lily realised. Feeling more at ease, Lily walked over.

"Oh, this must be Lily!" the woman exclaimed. She was pretty in blush pink robes and her blonde hair tightly curled, smiling brown eyes.

"Don't scare the girl," the man warned. "I'm Jack Potter and this is my wife, Tilly."

Lily shook his hand and introduced herself even though they seemed to know who she was. "Lily Evans."

"Lily, these are my cousins, twice removed," James explained. "They're aurors."

"Now how many embarrassing stories of James has Mia managed to get out yet?" Tilly asked.

"Tilly," James complained.

"I'm just making sure none of the important ones were left out."

"Oh, I think Mia's covered plenty," Lily smiled. "How long have you two been together then?"

"We met in Auror training ten years ago," Tilly told her, "We got married three years ago."

"That's nice," Lily smiled all though she could not imagine waiting seven years to get married to James. They chatted some more with Tilly and Jack and unlike James' Greenglass cousins, they did not seem to be prejudiced against her and Lily found herself relaxing more.

"Heard you threw a glass of firewhiskey on Isabella," a voice said in her ear when James had stepped away.

Lily turned and frowned at Sirius. "She had it coming." Sirius raised a doubtful eyebrow. "She said that I had been stringing James along for years and that it was a _terribly muggle thing to do_."

"So how full was the glass?" Sirius asked.

"Pretty full," Lily answered. "I threw it on her and said, 'how terribly _muggle_ of me.'" He laughed. "You don't think James will be mad?"

"Isabella is one of James' favourite cousins. They were always getting into mischief together like do you remember in third year, the puppy debacle at breakfast?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that was all James and Isabella. They'd planned it for weeks because James had it in his head that he wanted to smuggle a dog into the school and Isabella was more than happy to play along. But you know James, Lils. He doesn't tolerate that sort of talk so no, he won't be mad at you."

"What if he doesn't believe me?"

"I'll knock him one."

"Padfoot! The Prewett brothers want a game of pool," James shouted over the railing.

* * *

Christmas Eve at the Bennett house was relatively calm. It was one of the only times in the year when you could find all four Bennett siblings under the same roof as their parents and it was one of Adaline's most favourite times.

Elijah, Ezra and Emmett. Her brothers who were all scattered across the world pursuing all sorts of different things. Elijah pursued adventure as a curse breaker in South America. Ezra pursued love and followed his Italian wife wherever she went — she was a travel journalist. Emmett pursued danger as a dragon expert in Norway. But now, they all sat in their parents living room, drinking egg nog and telling stories and of course, all three brothers showered Adaline in gifts. They always did.

"We have a little announcement," Rosa, Ezra's wife said. Rosa was exotic with her olive toned skin, dark eyes and thick eyebrows but her face was sweet with big round eyes, and full lips that stretched into a pretty smile.

Ezra looked at Rosa with a sloppy smile and then the announcement and everyone stood, clapping and laughing and cheering. The littlest Bennett was on their way.

* * *

Alice seemed to have forgotten how grand Black Manor was. She'd forgotten how their home felt more like a museum than a home with it's marble, double staircase and how tall the ceilings were. She'd forgotten how the portraits were life size and she'd forgotten about how many house elves worked there. She'd forgotten how everything gleamed and how old everything was. She'd forgotten about the Black family tree that sprawled out on the walls in the ballroom, she'd forgotten that by marriage, she was on that family tree now.

It seemed so silly that she should be on it and Sirius Black wasn't. She'd made effort to find where his name should've been but all she found was a black scorch mark. They really had disowned him and thinking about all her sister had said about Bellatrix Lestrange, Alice wondered that he got the better half of the deal. Andromeda, too, she supposed.

It had been a while since she had thought of Andromeda Black, well Tonks now. Alice wondered if she missed all of this.

"Have you thought much of what you want to do after school?" Bellatrix asked Alice, catching Alice by surprise as she stepped next to her.

"I — I'm planning to go into the Auror department."

"You know, the Dark Lord could use a wand from the Auror department…"

Alice stiffened. "No. I really must go and find Emmeline." Alice walked away before Bellatrix could say another word and she found Emmeline quickly. "Can we leave yet?"

"What's wrong?" Emmeline asked and Alice quickly told her. "That bitch. You're not even out of Hogwarts yet!"

"Can we go? I hate it here."

"I — the Black's are announcing something, I think we're supposed to wait. Have you noticed a lot of Malfoys are here?"

"Cissy is dating Lucius Malfoy," Alice shrugged. "Maybe they decided to combine Christmas."

The reasons for so many Malfoys present was revealed when Cygnus Black stood up in front of all his guests.

"It is my divine pleasure to announce that my daughter, Narcissa, is engaged to be married to Lucius Malfoy, son of Adele and Marcus Malfoy. May this union be blessed and continue on the line of pure bloodlines. Every happiness to Narcissa and Lucius!"

"Okay, now can we go?" Alice huffed.

"You know, Fab and Gid are at the Potters…"

"What are we waiting for?"

* * *

His mother managed to find him coercing Twinkle to serve food upstairs to the Red Room.

"Is it any coincidence that all the young ones are missing and you want the house elves to serve food upstairs?" she asked her son.

"Not really. You don't want us to drink on empty stomachs do you, mum?"

She shook her head. "How's Lily doing?" Mia asked.

"Well Isabella disagrees with the fact that she's muggle-born so naturally, Lily threw a drink on her."

Mia laughed. "I like her."

"She's pretty great," James agreed.

"You make a nice couple together."

James smiled. "So do you and dad."

Mia snorted. "Go on. Get to your anti-party. I'll make sure food gets there."

He kissed his mum on the cheek. "Thanks mum." And then dashed off.

He found Lily in the Red Room. "Oh, you haven't seen Ella have you?" she asked.

"I was in the kitchen. Where was I going to see Ella?" he asked.

"In the kitchen?" she shrugged before sighing. "She'll turn up, I suppose. Did you see Alice and Emmeline?"

"They're here?"

"Yeah, they just came from Black Manor where apparently Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy announced their engagement."

"I suppose it'll be in the papers soon enough. Witch Weekly might even do a cover story."

Lily slipped her arms around James' neck. "I didn't know you kept up with Witch Weekly."

"I don't but that's the sort of thing that happens. Jack and Tilly's wedding was covered in Witch Weekly."

"Really?"

"Yep, I was on page six."

Lily laughed. "Of course you would remember that."

"When our wedding is covered, we'll be front page."

"And who says I'll marry a git like you?"

"Me, of course," James grinned.

"Of course," Lily agreed, leaning in so their lips pressed together softly.

* * *

Sirius was the one who found Ella in the corridor that led to the library with her dad, the door to the corridor slightly ajar and Sirius stepped closer to push it all the way open but then he froze. He recognised that tone of voice and it froze him to his core.

"How dare you embarrass me!" Albert Dearborn shouted and then the unmistakeable crack of a slap. Yes, he knew this all too well.

"You embarrass yourself!" Ella bit back. "You're the one who's always drunk. You're the one who's lost all our money."

Another crack. And another. A shuffle. _Move,_ he told himself, _just move_! But his body was petrified.

"Enough!" Ella demanded.

Another crack. "It's enough when I say it is!" Another crack. Something snapped in Sirius and his muscles finally started moving again and he pushed the door open.

He stepped into the room. "What's going on in here?"

Ella and Albert looked at Sirius, Ella avoiding his eyes. "Go away, Black," she insisted.

"I was sent to find you. Mia needs some help in the kitchen."

Ella brushed past Sirius as she walked out and Sirius was quick to follow her. He waited until they were in the kitchen to ask.

"I thought your dad gambled."

"He does. Where's Aunt Mia?"

"Probably in the party. Does he always hit you?"

"It's none of your business." But she was hugging herself and turned away from him. Sirius cursed.

"You can stay here, you know. Mia wouldn't mind."

She shook her head. "He'd blame mum and he's drunk." He thought she wasn't going to elaborate but she did. "He's a mean drunk."

"What did you do to piss him off?"

Ella was quiet for a moment. "Mum called me out, saying I was drunk and I said, 'now I'm just like dad'. Dad heard and he didn't like that."

Sirius flicked his wand at the fridge and ice cubes floated out, wrapping themselves in a tea towel. Sirius plucked it out of the air and gave it to Ella, "Here. It'll help with the stinging." She took it and hissed when she pressed it to her cheek. "And Ella," Sirius said, "It's not your fault. Your dad's a dick. Sprinkle, with me," he ordered the house elf closest to him.

Sirius left the kitchen, leaving Ella to collect her thoughts.

"Mister Sirius?" Sprinkle inquired.

"Prepare a drink for Mr Albert Dearborn and put some of Mia's sleeping potion in it. After he drinks it, escort him home. He's got a headache."

"Yes, Mister Sirius."

* * *

The Adams' and the McKinnon's always had Christmas lunch together and that was not something likely to change anytime soon and Marlene hoped it never would. Nothing had ever felt more like home than sitting on a table with her family and the McKinnon's as they talked and laughed and ate, falling into a rhythm that could only be forged by so having so many meals together.

After dessert, Marlene and Nate went for a walk through the snowy town. It was always so quiet on Christmas day and Marlene revelled in it.

"Nate," she murmured, her hand squeezing his just a little bit tighter. "I think I'm in love."

He squeezed her hand back. "Who's the lucky sod?"

"He's quite handsome," Marlene told him. "Blue eyes to die for, nice brown hair and the sweetest personality. I've known him forever."

"Marlene," he murmured. "I think I'm in love."

A small smile formed on her lips. "Who's the lucky wench?"

"She's quite the stunner," he told her. "Blue eyes, pretty blonde hair like the sun and the most adorable personality. I've known her forever."

Marlene McKinnon knew, just from the words that left his lips, that this Christmas was better than all the others. Her first Christmas where she was in love and happy. No one forgot that. In fact this was one of the moments she thought about in the end.

* * *

Lily looked at the necklace with awe because it was by far one of the most prettiest things she'd ever seen. It was an old piece of jewellery with a gold setting and tiny pearls encasing a perfectly round sapphire the size of a galleon and it was no doubt the most expensive thing Lily had ever held.

"Mia, I couldn't possibly accept this," Lily said, as it was quite obviously, a family heirloom of some sort.

"Nonsense," Mia waved off. "I have so many of those and no one to wear them."

James shuffled over and grabbed the necklace and fastened it around her neck, the pendant falling between her breasts, "Perfect," he declared and Lily smiled, eyes cast down at the glittering thing.

"Thank you, I," but Lily was at a loss for words. She put her hand over the pendant and looked over at Euphemia and Fleamont, "It means a lot to me."

"That necklace was James' great-grandmothers," Fleamont told her, "She was a red head like you."

"Seemed fitting to give that one to you," Mia added.

"Can we get on with the other presents?" Sirius complained. "Lily's hogging up all the attention."

Lily poked her tongue out at him but threw him his present from her. "Here."

He opened it quickly and looked at it with furrowed eyebrows. "What is it?"

"Those are army tags," Lily explained. "Soldiers in the muggle army wear them. I had a set made with your name."

" _Marauders Squadron_ ," he read off the second tag.

"Yep, you four all got matching ones," she explained just as James opened his. "Oh and you get this," Lily added throwing another present at James' head. He caught it easily though and started ripping it open, pulling out a silver necklace with a cross on it.

He looked at the odd symbol and Lily explained, "It's another muggle thing. Muggles believe that there's a God and if you wear the sign of the cross, he'll protect you."

James smiled and slipped the chain over his head. "Thank you," he kissed her cheek. "And I suppose you want your present now." He presented her with a velvet pouch. Lily opened it carefully and out came a gold ring holding a rectangle ruby and Lily was stunned into silence once more. "You don't hate it do you?"

"It's beautiful but James, it's too much, I can't.."

"Shh, you can," he insisted, taking the ring out of her hands and slipping it onto her middle finger. "See? Perfect fit."

Christmas day after that was a quiet affair in the Potters drawing room, where James and Fleamont tried to teach Lily the art of chess and Sirius played some sort of old card game with Mia. It was everything that Christmas should be and something that Lily hadn't experienced in a very long time.

Christmases at home were always lovely, of course, there was always that sense of, well, home but there was also the underlining hostility that always came with Petunia. That sense that she'd be happier if Lily weren't there. Here, Lily could admit that this family would be just as happy if Lily weren't there but she also knew that they wanted her there and it was everything that Christmas should be.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello Everyone! Thank you so much for reading and an extra special thanks to those who review, fav and follow! For a writer it really does mean a lot even if it's something small._

 _-Natalie xx_


	21. Chapter 20: Weddings&Boyfriend Stealers

_Ten._

The prospect of the New Year promised a happy start. The reality of the New Year promised something else entirely.

 _Nine._

New Years were always meant to bring a wave of new opportunities, new beginnings.

 _Eight._

Marlene spent the night worrying.

 _Seven._

Alice found herself lying. Frank found himself fighting. So did Emmeline and Caradoc.

 _Six._

Ella told a secret. Sirius surprised himself with a realisation.

 _Five._

Adaline didn't know how to love, but she knew how to snog. And punch.

 _Four._

Lily arrived drunk.

 _Three!_

Owls swooped down.

 _Two!_

James left.

 _One!_

No one was safe.

* * *

To say Lily was nervous about going back home after she'd been staying at the Potter's was an understatement. Euphemia shooed them out happily, wishing them fun at the wedding and short stay at Lily's house, not quite understanding Lily's anxiety about the whole thing.

"I'm sure any past misgivings will be forgotten for the day," Euphemia had assured when James had tried to explain the situation.

Lily had wanted to laugh bitterly. If only Petunia would be more open to what Lily was, they could have a friendlier relationship. She thought magic was different and though she said otherwise, Lily knew that Petunia held magic in some high esteem, thinking that Lily was somehow better, more special because she was a witch but the truth was, there was nothing extraordinary about magic just like there was nothing extraordinary about being muggle. Like all things, magic lost its wonder once you learnt about it, lived in it.

To a wizard or a witch, spells were like algebra, potions were like cooking and flying was like running. Magic didn't magically solve everything just like money and influence couldn't solve everything. Wizards still had their wars, their differences and their hardships. People held in the image of how well they could perform spells rather than their personalities. People shunned for their ancestry. People hexed in the hallways instead of being pushed into a locker.

Magic hadn't done anything except give everyone a weapon. Everyone had a wand and everyone got to choose how to use it. At least in the muggle world things were a bit clearer. When wars raged, there were armies who fought, soldiers who died but in this world of magic, everyone was a fighter, everyone was a defender and anyone could perish at the hands of another.

Lily wished Petunia could see the part of magic that wasn't all singing teapots and chocolate frogs that could hop away. Lily wished Petunia didn't resent her for her magical life.

"You okay?" James murmured, his hand brushing against hers.

"Just thinking about Petunia."

James fell silent and Lily leaned into him. There were no words he could say to make her feel better but sitting there with his arm around her, that was all the comfort Lily needed. She didn't need him to tell her lies, she just needed him there.

Lily shuffled even closer to James and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tight. Letting everything that was wrong in the world slip away.

She forgot about the sister who hated her and the war that planned to eradicate muggle-borns. In that moment, it was just her and James and their whole future flashed in her mind. A proposal. A wedding. A baby. She could imagine a messy haired toddler with round glasses splashing in puddles with her goofy husband in front of their house. She could imagine laying in bed with James on a Sunday morning. She could imagine them trying to cook dinner together and failing miserably because they kept distracting each other. She could imagine falling asleep in his arms every night just because she could.

"What are you thinking about?" he murmured against her head.

"Everything," Lily answered.

* * *

Caradoc stepped out of the fire at 11:03am on New Year's Eve and what he did not expect was the scene in front of him. In front of him was his sister cowering as his father smacked her, their mum trying to pull him off with little use and his blood ran cold. The room had frozen at the glow of green, waiting for someone to break the picture.

Ella turned to hide her face but he didn't miss the sweltering bruise on her left cheek bone, didn't miss how she held her ribs, her face squinting in pain.

"What's going on?" Caradoc asked. More silence. His leg started bouncing and he repeated, ice in his voice, "What's going on?"

Ella was the next one to break the silence as she sucked in a sob and turned to her brother. Caradoc took a step back, he'd missed a lot. Her nose was bloody, her right eye red, purple and swollen shut.

"Ella?" he whispered. "Who…?" the question hung in the air as Caradoc's gaze landed on their father whose knuckles were cracked open and rage filled him. "Why?" he demanded to his father.

"Hmph, quite deserved it," he mumbled, "Hiding my wand like that … quite deserved it. Do you know where she's hidden it? My wand? I can't seem to find … hid it she has."

Albert approached his son, walking in a crooked line and before he could say another word, Caradoc pulled his own wand out and said, " _Stupefy_."

Ella couldn't bear another minute in this house and finding unknown strength she walked passed her mother, ignoring the ache in her ribs every time she breathed like someone was stabbing her. She threw a handful of floo powder into the fire and said, "Caradoc's apartment," disappearing in the licks of green flames.

"Doc," his mother stepped forward.

"How long?" Caradoc asked taking a step back. "How long have known that he gets violent?"

"The last month," she admitted.

"And you let Ella come home … you let," he shook his head. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

His mother flinched. "I thought if Ella came home, he'd be good."

"Clearly you were wrong. Ella's staying with me," he spat. He went into the fireplace as his mother pleaded him to listen and with a handful of floo powder was gone in a flash of green like his sister.

* * *

Alice pushed the food around on her plate, her sister had not come home last night and she was nervous. Emmeline hadn't said where she'd gone but Alice had a crushing suspicion that she'd been on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix.

With Christmas and being surrounded by so much family, Alice hadn't the opportunity to question Emmeline on exactly what the Order did and this made her even more nervous. A resistance against the Dark Lord didn't exactly sound like tea and cakes. If Emmeline was on a mission, it was dangerous.

The door opened and Emmeline walked in and upon observing Alice's rigid stance, asked, "What's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Were you on a mission?"

Emmeline frowned and looked at their house elf who was cleaning up, "Leave us, Minky." The elf popped out of sight. "Alice… I can't tell you that. I told you that this is all very confidential."

Alice nodded. Frank's training was all very confidential too but she couldn't have another morning like this one. "Can you at least tell me if you were out on a mission? I don't want to know the details."

Emmeline considered and then nodded, "I was."

"Were you safe?"

"You know, this is starting to sound a lot like a sex talk." Emmeline bit into an apple, sitting down casually.

"Emmy," Alice warned. She was serious.

"Look, I'll make a deal with you. I'll tell you when I'm out on a mission so you don't have to worry every time I leave the house."

Alice nodded. "Any plans for tonight?"

"Mission," Emmeline informed her as simply as if she were going to a party.

"Oh."

"Come on, don't be like that," Emmeline whined. "I'll be fine."

Alice nodded. "Of course, just be safe."

Emmeline decided a subject change was for the best, "Any plans for tonight?" She never said it'd be original.

"Marlene and Adam are throwing a party."

"Frank going?" Emmeline asked.

"No, he decided spending New Year's Eve away from his extremely hot girlfriend was for the best," Alice said sarcastically.

"Well, just remember to be safe," Emmeline winked and Alice threw a grape at her. "Oh, don't act like you're still a virgin. I know mum and dad are still holding out hope, but I've seen what's in your locked draw."

Alice blushed. The locked draw in question was the home of Alice's sexier lingerie. "That draw's locked," she mumbled.

"I can work my way around a locking charm," Emmeline pointed out, Alice just threw another grape at her.

* * *

Her mother hugged her for three full minutes whilst James had stood awkwardly in the corridor trying to get past them to use the loo. They had arrived early in the morning, with their clothes in what Lily called dry cleaning bags. He was, surprisingly, saved by Petunia.

"Can you start getting changed?" she ordered, a snappiness in her voice that Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes to however Lily and her mum parted and James finally slipped around Lily and into the loo. "The photographer will be here in an hour and no one is even close to ready! I don't know why you didn't just get ready at your boyfriend's house and meet us at the church," she huffed.

"It's your wedding," Lily said quietly, trying to hide the hurt, "I didn't want to miss you getting ready. Besides, isn't the photographer meant to get some getting ready shots?" Lily questioned putting on an awfully cheery voice that pained James' ears.

"Only if you want your bed hair in the photos!" Petunia snapped. "And tell that boyfriend of yours to comb his hair! This is a wedding not a football match."

Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes for the second time as Petunia made her way downstairs where a smattering of voices could be heard.

"You better start getting ready," Rosie told her daughter, "Before she murders someone."

"I'd protect you, mum," Lily promised.

She smiled, "Go get dressed."

Lily closed her bedroom door behind her, slipping out of her night gown and stepped into the yellow, chiffon dress that she had purchased back in August. The door clicked open and closed just in time for James to pull up her zipper at the back and they stared at themselves in the mirror for a moment. Lily in her pale yellow dress that fell to her calf and James in his trousers with a white shirt tucked in. He moved her hair to one side and placed his chin on her bare shoulder, murmuring, "You look good."

She smiled softly. "It's odd seeing you in muggle attire but you look good too."

" _LILY_!" Petunia screeched from down the stairs, "It's your turn for hair and make-up! Come down stairs! NOW!"

Lily groaned. She wanted to do her own hair and make-up the much less painful way, using magic to aid her as she'd gotten quite accomplished at it when Marlene had had a make-up phase in '75 and had somehow sucked Lily into it too.

"You know," James said, going over to his trunk where his tie lay, "She could use a calming charm … or four."

Lily snorted and then seriously, "Don't you even think about it!"

"Maybe a cheering charm," James continued.

Lily shook her head. "I hate you."

He grinned, peppered kisses on her shoulder and said, "Nah, you don't."

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked placing a cooling charm on her face. It was a stupid question really.

"Because," was all she could muster up. There were a hundred reasons why, denial being the biggest one. How could their once happy family have turned into this?

She'd thought, the first time he'd hit her on Christmas morning, that he was just pissed and drunk. Nothing had bruised, nothing had bled, it was just a slap. It had been nothing.

He pushed her into a wall next, her head had the lump to prove it but it was still nothing. He'd only done it because she was pouring all the firewhiskey down the drain. It was nothing. She had expected him to lash out.

He threw a plate at her during dinner but it had missed and instead crashed angrily to the floor. She wasn't hurt. It had been nothing.

He threw a hex at their house elf, so she'd disarmed him taking his wand. He slapped her, grabbed her and threw her face first into a wall. She kept hold of the two wands and scrambled away whilst her dad continued to cause destruction to the house. Her nose bled, and her ribs ached. It was nothing.

He tore the house apart trying to find where she'd hid his wand the next morning and when he couldn't find it, he became violent. He pushed her and she didn't know if he had meant it, but she fell down the four steps that separated the drawing room and the dining room, landing on her bum, her arm hitting the table with a painful knock.

He'd dragged her back into the drawing room, and he punched her in the face, in the stomach, wherever his fist could find and it was like everything in her went numb. He kept bashing her around, her mother's cries deaf on all ears, until the flames had turned green and Caradoc stepped out. It was like time had sped up and slowed down all at once. It was nothing and then it wasn't.

"Because why?" he insisted. "The bruise on your ribs is at least two days old."

"Since when were you an expert?"

"Don't deflect. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was nothing!"

"This isn't nothing, Ella," Caradoc said softly. "You should have told me."

"I told you to stay for Christmas," she said softly.

"I couldn't," he whispered and she didn't doubt the genuinity of what he'd said but she needed to know.

"Why?"

"I should've been around more," he said instead, "I'm sorry."

"As long as you're taking the couch," she replied, deciding he wouldn't tell her anything. Not today anyways.

Ella's brow lifted in question when her brother emerged from his room in the early evening wearing a muggle tuxedo and complaining about how muggle pockets weren't deep enough for a wand.

"Undetectable extension charm," she reminded him.

"Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious," he retorted, "It's just annoying."

"Well, what are you wearing muggle clothes for?"

"A party."

She rolled her eyes. "Very informative. Who're you going with?"

"Some friends."

"And those friends would be?"

"Classified information," Caradoc declared. "Are you still going to that party at the McKinnons'?"

Ella shrugged. She hadn't decided if she could handle everyone asking questions about her face which was still splotched with purple bruises. Her father must've used some accidental magic when he punched her because no matter the spells Caradoc had tried, the bruises had persisted.

"You should," he said and at her raised eyebrow he clarified, "You should go to the party."

"So everyone can gawk at my repulsive, oozing eye? Yes, I'm considering it."

"I just don't want you to be alone," he admitted.

"I'll be fine," she assured but she wasn't so sure. She didn't want to be alone either.

* * *

Nate and Marlene stood in the doorway waiting as Mr and Mrs McKinnon walked down the street where they'd be apparating to a fancy muggle themed party in London that was being held by the Ministry of Magic. Marlene's parents had left for Paris in the morning and now with Nate's parents tucked away in London for the night, their big New Year's Eve bash was a go.

"All right," Marlene clapped her hands before she started assigning everyone jobs — Aria and Henry were assigned to packing away the breakables and setting the party food out, whilst Marlene and Nate were in charge of alcohol and decorations. Faith stood in the backyard with her wand, performing charms that would stop the neighbours from noticing anything odd and it was with minutes to spare that they all convened in the living room, dressed and more than ready for a drink.

"Here's to starting the new year with a bang!" Faith toasted, they all clinked their plastic cups together before drinking. "You two better have soda in your cups," she warned Aria and Henry.

"Oh bugger off," Aria rolled her eyes. "Like you never drank in sixth year."

"When's Logan getting here?" Marlene asked to change the subject.

"Any minute now," Faith assured. "My wardrobe is locked, right? I don't want him seeing the dress by accident," she added nervously.

"It is," Nate and Marlene both assured her as she had made them both check. She also didn't want any drunk party-goers to stumble across her expensive, white dress.

As the time ticked slowly past seven people started trickling in and Marlene's nerves started to fade despite the fact that none of their immediate friends had arrived yet.

"They'll come, right?" she asked Nate for the billionth time.

"Unless they've formed some secret 'We Hate Marlene' club, they're coming," Nate assured. "You need to relax."

But just as he said that, Marlene's eyebrow shot up at the sight of Mia Scott, the fifth year Nate briefly dated. She was stunning in a dress that was entirely inappropriate for winter and her hair in soft curls down her back. "What's she doing here?" Marlene grumbled, pulling at the fur coat she had worn over a plain top and jeans.

Nate looked over his shoulder and shrugged, "I'm sure she just heard about it from someone else."

"So you didn't invite her?"

"No, did you?" Nate asked. Marlene glared at him. "Oh, who cares about Mia freaking Scott?"

"I just," Marlene battled with her emotions before sighing, "You're right — oh! There's Della! Della!" Marlene shouted over the music, flagging down the brunette.

* * *

Alice arrived at Frank's house at exactly seven o'clock, knocking her petite hand on the door, Mrs Longbottom opened and Alice put on a fake smile. Frank promised he'd opened the door because as much as she loved Frank, she loathed his mother.

Mrs Longbottom pursed her lips, "Did you travel alone?"

"Yes, Mrs Longbottom."

"Come in, dear," she said stepping aside before chewing Alice's ear off about how it was unsafe for a young witch to travel alone in these times and how back in her day, the man always picked up the witch. Alice found it polite to not point out that in Mrs Longbottom's time people rode threstral drawn carriages to Hogwarts instead of a train.

"Frank!" Alice called with relief when she spotted him leaning on the balustrading from the second level.

"Hey, Al, I'll be down in a second … work rang long. I've just gotten out of the shower."

The mention of his Auror training sent a cold reminder through her. Emmeline was going on a mission tonight though Alice couldn't fathom why Emmeline would need to be dressed in a glittery silver dress paired with white gloves and heels for a mission. She also couldn't fathom why Caradoc Dearborn had picked her up instead of literally anyone else that they knew of. All of this had left Alice to conclude that the mission was the undercover sort and Caradoc Dearborn, also known as Ella's brother, was also in this secret Order business. She wondered if Ella knew.

"Tea?" Mrs Longbottom asked as they sat down in the stiff and uncomfortable drawing room where no less than six deer heads stared down at her from the walls.

Pondering Mrs Longbottom's question Alice thought, _only if there was firewhiskey in it_ but knew Mrs Longbottom would not find the humour in that she politely said, "No, thank you."

"What are your plans for after Hogwarts?"

"I'm planning to be an Auror."

"Ah, following in Frank's steps I suppose." Mrs Longbottom's mouth opened to continue but Alice interrupted.

"My mother's an auror actually. I'm following in my mother's footsteps."

"Why I never, who's your mother again?"

"Nadia Vance."

Mrs Longbottom's eyes widened. "But she's Head of the Auror Office."

"Fourth year and counting," Alice confirmed.

Mrs Longbottom seemed stunned for a moment but she quickly recovered before a satisfactory smile could even triumph across Alice's features. "I hope nepotism doesn't factor in when they decide to admit you. I'm not doubting your ability at all, just that being an auror is an extremely dangerous job not to mention draining. It would be very concerning if they admit you purely because of your mother."

"It would," Alice agreed. "Which is why a separate committee of senior aurors decides on who gets accepted into the program."

"Ah, of course … but being an auror is no doubt time consuming when would you ever get the time?"

"Time?" Alice prompted.

"To get married and have children."

"Mum!" Frank interrupted whatever Alice was going to say. His face flushed with mingled anger and embarrassment, he turned to Alice, "Let's go before she proposes you move in too."

Alice stood up quickly having never heard a worse idea. The woman was intolerable.

"I was merely suggesting-"

"Mum!" Frank cut her off again.

"Thank you Mrs Longbottom for the," and then realising her mistake since she'd declined tea improvised with, "Conversation," which Frank teased her about as soon as the front door closed.

"Oh, shut up," Alice sighed, rubbing her temple. "I swear ten minutes with your mother and I can already feel the migraine coming on."

"I know she's … difficult," Frank started but Alice shook her head.

"I'm a bitch. She's your mum," Alice sighed, "She just makes me so frustrated sometimes."

Frank kissed her forehead, "Is that helping the oncoming migraine?"

She shook her head so he kissed her nose. "Better?" She shook her head again but a smile was already pulling at her lips as he kissed both of her cheeks. "How about now?"

"Getting there," she murmured, the little smile growing.

He pressed his lips lightly to her mouth and mumbled, "How 'bout now?" into her lips. Grabbing the back of his neck she surged into him and let her mouth move against his.

The light snow fell around them as they embraced passionately on the Longbottom's front step, the lights from the windows softly illuminating their faces as they smiled into each other. Alice pulled away, rubbing her thumb across Frank's cheek. She frowned at the fresh pink line she hadn't noticed before.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Work," he explained and her face smoothed over in hidden disappointment as she realised that Frank wasn't going to elaborate further.

"We better go. Marly will have my head if no one shows up at seven thirty on the dot."

Frank chuckled, lacing his hand in hers they walked down the steps to the street and casually strolled through the London streets until they found a secluded place to apparate from. Frank tried to start a conversation again but Alice didn't have the heart for it. His brief mention of work and the new scar on his face had her even more worried about Emmeline and the entire validity of the Order of the Phoenix.

At least with Frank she knew that there were other trained professionals. Wizards and witches who had been trained to fight, trained to heal. Emmeline had a sharp wand, Alice had been caught off guard by Emmeline's hexes one too many times to not know that but it didn't change the fact that Emmeline was a columnist for the Daily Prophet. She had no business fighting in a war.

Alice and Frank walked down the narrow side lane of the McKinnon house where they could hear music pumping, music that they couldn't hear from the street. Alice's hand was small in his and she was dressed up in a shiny, blue dress and her mousy blonde hair was feathered out.

Frank pulled her to a stop just before they were about to enter the party.

"Is everything okay?"

Alice nodded. "Of course. Why?"

"You've just seemed quiet today, actually you've seemed quiet since Christmas."

Remembering her promise to her sister and knowing that Frank kept secrets from her, she shook her head and lied. "I guess I'm just a little despondent knowing that this is my last year at Hogwarts."

Frank furrowed his brows, "You sure that's it?"

She nodded, leaning up on her toes to press a quick kiss to his lips. "Positive."

It wasn't that she wanted to lie to Frank, and she kept telling herself she wasn't lying, but she promised her sister.

"It also may be because the day after tomorrow, I have to go back and you have to stay in London," a playful smirk had appeared on her lips but it vanished slowly as she placed a hand on his cheek, "This year has been hell without you."

He grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it. "Just a few more months."

* * *

"Let's dance," James proposed but Lily wrinkled her face. The dance floor where her sister and her new husband danced seemed so unappealing. Petunia smiled happily and Lily didn't need to be a seer to know that the smile would tighten at a glimpse of Lily and James.

The ceremony had passed in what seemed like no time at all and Lily had led James to a table near the front where they were seated with some relatives that had come down for the wedding from Ireland. James could tell by Lily's overly polite smile that she was upset by the seating arrangements as she looked longingly up at the main table where the bride and groom sat along with their parents.

Their table had been deserted once the dancing had started and James shoved his chair closer to Lily. She protested at first but eventually relented and leaned into his chest.

"I don't want to dance," she murmured.

"You mean, Petunia doesn't want you to dance," James said softly. "You need to stop sacrificing what you want for her."

"It's her wedding," was all Lily said. "Wanna go outside and get drunk on firewhiskey?"

"And where did you get a bottle of firewhiskey from?" James raised his brow.

Lily smirked, "Sirius gave me a _Sibling Survival_ kit. It may or may not have been a basket of different types of firewhiskey bottles and one of those bottles may or may not be stashed in my bag next to my wand."

Lily twisted in time to see the grin spread across his face and despite everything, a glimpse of that grin could lighten her soul. "Let's go," James said, thinking he'd much rather be snogging Lily on the side of the building with a bottle of firewhiskey between them. "This party is terribly dull."

After a tremendous amount of snogging and half a bottle of firewhiskey they stumbled back into the party giggling and Lily didn't have any qualms about dancing anymore. Grabbing both his hands and smiling widely, she pulled him onto the dance floor, dragging his body to hers.

James played along, pulling her in by the waist and dipping her extravagantly as she threw her head back and laughed freely, her hand around his neck. James had thought spending New Year's Eve at a muggle wedding would be torturous but here, with Lily, it wasn't so bad, not when her sparkling eyes and her smiles were all for him.

"Lily," hissed Petunia, who grabbed her by the arm tightly and James frowned at the tight grip and gently tugged Lily away from her sister. "Are you drunk?" she accused.

"Tuney, it's a wedding, if you aren't drunk, you aren't doing it right."

James wanted to laugh, he really did because Petunia's face flushed red as she battled on how to express her anger without exposing it to the rest of her guests.

"She's just a little tipsy," James supplied with a smile. "She's fine."

"No, she's not," Petunia snapped quietly. "She's embarrassing me!"

"I'm having fun," Lily corrected. "Something you should learn to do more often!"

"I have plenty of fun when you aren't around!"

Lily's smile faded and her eyes turned dark as the stinging words echoed in her mind slicing deeper and deeper every time. "Why am I even here, Petunia? You've never, ever tried for me and all I've ever done was try and try again for you."

"Lils," James murmured, "Maybe now isn't the best time for this conversation."

But Lily didn't want to cause a scene, she just wanted to talk to her sister and here her sister would never lash out, forced into calmness by the sea of people she was trying to impress.

"You're my sister," Petunia supplied.

"But you're happier when I'm not around." She said it like a question and Petunia remained frozen, neither confirming nor denying but to Lily her silence was confirmation enough. "Right," she murmured with a realising nod. "Right so James and I will be off then. You can enjoy the rest of your life and be happy without me and I'll enjoy my life and be happy without you and maybe it'll be enough knowing that somewhere out there, we're both happy." She looked at Petunia, green into blue and said, "Goodbye, Tuney. I hope you have a fantastic night and a beautiful life."

Without another word, Lily grabbed James' hand and led him away from the dance floor and out of the party. She didn't stop until they were outside and she all but collapsed into him, tears falling down her eyes as she finally said goodbye to any sort of meaningful relationship with her sister.

James held her as she sniffled away the last of her tears and he leaned back, kissing the dried tears on her cheeks. "Come on, we can go to McKinnon's party and you can get ridiculously drunk." Lily didn't protest as he stuck his wand out for the Knight Bus.

* * *

Ella really couldn't fight the inexplicable urge to be around people no matter how hard she'd tried to tell herself it was a bad idea. So she peeled herself off of her brother's couch and dug through the school trunk Caradoc had gone back to fetch. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a knit jumper that was actually Marlene's and tried to hide her bruises by dabbing concealer on. They looked better but were by no means hidden but it was as good as it was going to get.

She wore her hair down, being cautious not to tuck it behind her ears so it fell on her face and pulled on a pair of heeled boots before leaving the apartment. She apparated out and landed in a lane a few houses away from Marlene and Nate's houses. She stuffed her wand into a pocket in her cloak and started the walk.

The abundance of people overwhelmed her.

"Ella!" Marlene cried happily as Ella stood awkwardly in the small foyer of Nate's house. "You made it!" and then the dreaded gasp as Marlene caught sight of her face. "What happened?"

"Had a fight with a troll." She grabbed Marlene's drink and drowned it a little laugh escaping her and she looked down in distaste. "Did you mix giggle water with firewhiskey?"

"Possibly."

"It's disgusting."

"Ella, what happened to your face?" Marlene asked not believing Ella's story of battling with a troll.

"I told you. You should see the troll," Ella deflected. Despite her previous need to not be alone, she now craved nothing more than being secluded. "I'll find you later!"

Ella escaped up the staircase and immediately felt more at ease as no one else was on the first level of the house. She eventually found a door that led to a balcony that overlooked the garden and, by extension, the party, and plopped herself down on the dainty chairs that were clearly chosen for their aesthetic rather than their practicality.

Breathing in the cool winter air, Ella rather found that this was what she had been seeking. A quiet nook in a noisy place where she would never be in danger of her thoughts getting too loud.

* * *

Adaline could enjoy a party, it was one of the things she was great at. She had always been terribly picky with boyfriends, but one night hook-ups didn't need much thought as long as they were fit and a good snog. It was how she ended up behind a tree in the McKinnon yard snogging sixth year Bellamy Davis.

Bellamy Davis was a standard bloke. He had blondish hair with chocolate brown eyes and a narrow nose contrasting his round chin. His personality wasn't anything to brag about, in fact, Adaline considered him quite a boring sod but he didn't need to be interesting to snog and snog he could.

In the furthest corner of the McKinnon yard, hidden mostly by a thick tree, Adaline snogged Bellamy Davis with no shame. Her hands roamed every crevice of his torso, rummaging in his hair and scratching lightly down his back as his lips occupied hers, moving together as if they did it all the time.

Another thing she was good at was dropping the boys she snogged at parties. Easily, she untangled herself from Bellamy and said, "That was fun! Find me at midnight," and then she left a confused Bellamy behind the tree as she set off to find her friends and get herself a drink.

Ella was nowhere to be found which annoyed Adaline because as the only other person in their group who didn't have a boyfriend, Adaline had hoped they'd stick together but she spotted Remus and Peter by the drinks table and it wasn't too long before they were having drinking competitions and laughing loudly as they took shots of giggle water and failed miserably at trying not to laugh.

At some point Marlene and Nate joined them and Marlene looped her arm through Adaline's and said, "Why does Tommy keep glaring at you like you killed his boggart? No — wait, that's a good thing," she frowned. "Like you killed his niffler? Do people have nifflers as pets? Dragon? Dragon works," Marlene decided. "Dragon keepers love their dragons like crazy."

Adaline giggled at her friend's ramblings and shrugged, "Hell if I know but he dumped me so I should be staring at him like he killed my dragon."

"Preach it," Marlene agreed. "No one dumps my friend!"

"It's okay, I snogged Bellamy Davis behind that tree," Adaline told her friend pointing to the fat tree at the back of the yard.

Nate wrinkled his nose, "If I knew everyone was just going to start snogging on any available surface I would've had the party at Marly's."

Marlene nudged him before turning back to Adaline. "Bellamy Davis is cute! I forget how fun you can be at parties. Oh, have you seen Ella? Something's happened but she wouldn't tell me and then she ran off and I haven't been able to find her."

"Bad," Adaline shook her head.

"Taking that as a no," Marlene slumped.

"Taking what as a no?" Sirius asked taking a spot in the small circle they'd formed.

"Marlene can't find Ella," Peter recapped, "Apparently something's happened to her."

"What kind of happened?" Sirius asked, alert.

Marlene stumbled on her words before dragging Sirius out of the group. "Since when does he get to know Ella's problems?" Adaline wondered.

"Beats me," Remus commented, a slight slur to his words and Adaline giggled. "If you ask me though, he fancies her. I don't think he knows yet so _shhh_ , it's a secret!"

"You're drunk!"

"So are you, Del," Peter pointed out.

"Yeah but it's _Remus_!"

"Oi," Remus laughed.

"He doesn't get drunk at school because he's a _prefect_ ," Peter sneered the word.

"So pretentious," Adaline remarked.

"Della," someone said from behind her and Adaline sighed recognising the voice of her ex-boyfriend.

"What?" she bit, turning around.

"I — Did you really snog Bellamy Davis?" he wanted to know.

"What's it to you?" Adaline snapped.

"I — nothing," he said coolly before turning around and leaving.

"Boys confuse me," she crossed her arms, frowning deeply. "He broke up with me! Why's he care if I snog Bellamy Davis? I could snog Remus and you know who's business it would be?" she asked the three boys. "Not his because he dumped me!"

"I love drunk Della," Nate said happily.

"She's so much more fun than regular Della," Peter agreed.

"Yeah cause regular Della got dumped by Thomas freaking Plunkett and secretly cried about it for two weeks. Regular Della is a weak bitch." Remus stifled a laugh. "Drunk Della isn't afraid to punch a bitch."

"Oh, you should punch Thomas!" Peter dared.

"Oh my god!"

"A galleon says he'd cry," Nate bet.

"This is a terrible idea," Remus pointed out. "But money on Del making his nose bleed."

"No, no, no!" Adaline shook her head, "It's a grand idea! It's splendid! Why shouldn't I punch him in his pretty little nose? He dumped me! I'm going to punch him!"

Marlene popped up out of nowhere, "Who're you punching?"

"Thomas Plunkett," they all chorused.

"Della," it was Thomas again, "Can we-"

Adaline's fist connected with Thomas' face, and as Remus predicted, blood trickled out of his nose as his hands came up to his face and Adaline grinned proudly.

"Holy mother of Merlin," Peter wheezed.

"She actually did it," Marlene said weakly, torn between laughing and being horrified.

"What the fuck, Bennett?" Thomas yelled.

"You don't get to dump me and then get pissy that I snogged another bloke. And you owe Remus some money, he didn't specify how much but he bet that I could make your nose bleed and love to admit it, your nose is bleeding."

"You're mental!" he declared stalking away, his eyes watering from the sting of the punch and the group burst out in hysterical laughter, doubling over and clutching their stomachs.

"His eyes were watering," Peter said, "I think that counts as crying."

"It was close enough, Pete. Close enough," Adaline said, before downing the rest of her drink, feeling like Drunk Della could fight Voldemort himself, the group were in a fit of laughter when she said so.

* * *

Lily and James drank a considerable amount of their bottle of firewhiskey on the Knight Bus so when they stumbled into the front lawn of the McKinnon property with two hours to go until midnight, they fit right in with the rest of the guests at the party.

"Oh, and did you see their terrible cake?"

"You know substituting a walrus for the cake topper could have improved it," James proposed and Lily giggled as they crossed the threshold. She caught his lips in hers having a sudden need to touch him.

She didn't know how he could still make her feel all these things. Happy, electric, light, free and yet she would be perfectly happy trapped with him for eternity. His touch could ignite things in her no other living person had ever been able to illuminate and she knew that no one would ever compare to James.

"Hmm, love, we're blocking the door way," James mumbled into her lips as she giggled, pulling him closer still.

"Don't care," she breathed, peppering kisses down his neck as though the world may end if she didn't, "Need you."

James, happy to oblige, pulled her up, using her bottom for leverage so she was on the very tip of her toes, and hungrily took her mouth with his, letting their lips move together with such passion it was a wonder sparks didn't fly out from their finger tips. Her hands in his hair, his body pressing her into the door frame, his lips on her neck.

"Need you," she gasped as he sucked lightly on the spot right under her ear, her centre burning for him. She pulled away, grabbing his hand and charging through the crowd until she opened a door to a bathroom where a girl was washing her hands, "Out!" Lily ordered with such ferocity that had James pulling her into him and fumbling with her zipper. Lily kicked the door shut behind the girl who did not hesitate to scarper out of the bathroom as James finally worked the zipper and dug her hand into James' pocket, pointing his wand at the door she clumsily locked it before throwing the wand to the ground in favour of James' belt.

She stepped out of the dress, distractedly, James' belt proving difficult he got his shirt off and Lily forgot about the belt as she let her hands trail over every inch of his abdomen, back and chest. James twisted them around, catching her mouth in his and biting her lower lip, nibbling as he hoisted her onto the vanity where she easily locked her legs around his waist pulling him ever closer. Closer, closer, closer. It was never close enough.

"Belt," Lily mumbled into his mouth, her hands reaching down to try again and finally she unclipped it and unbuttoned his pants shoving them down his hips.

"Lil," he breathed out as she pulled down his boxers, he tugged on her knickers and using his shoulders for leverage, lifted up and he slid her knickers down her slim legs, letting his fingers leave a trail of fire behind. She unclasped her bra, flinging it anywhere.

James was everywhere, his hands on her breasts, on her back, on her thighs leaving her skin burning as his mouth ravished her.

Someone knocked loudly on the door and James and Lily both shouted, "Occupied!" before Lily turned his face back to hers.

Driven to insanity, Lily took his length in her hand and he groaned her name in a way that made her feel all sorts of things. He picked her up, pushing her against a free wall and she slid onto him and she gasped in pleasure, looking into his frenzied eyes, she pushed his hair off his face as he started thrusting into her, building up the pace until Lily had to bite down on his shoulder to stop from screaming out in pleasure.

"Lil, Lil, Lil, Lily," he whispered biting his lip as he released inside her. He stepped closer, his head collapsing on her shoulder and pinning her against the wall. "You drive me crazy," he mumbled.

She giggled, nibbling on his neck softly and whispered, "You love it."

He lifted his head up, smiling as he kissed her deeply, "I love you," he told her.

"We should probably put a few cleaning charms on that vanity," Lily said, unhooking her legs from around James' waist and pushing him off her gently. "Oh, and I love you, too, I suppose."

"I suppose?" James hit her arse playfully and she squealed with laughter as she reached up to fetch her bra off the curtain rod.

They dressed quickly, fumbling with clasps and buttons and zippers and giggling the whole time with stolen kisses and they stumbled out of the bathroom, James' tie loose around his neck and his hands around Lily's middle, still pressing kisses to her neck.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at them. "I'm telling Nate you had sex in his bathroom."

"We cleaned it," Lily defended.

"Everyone is outside," Sirius said before walking off but he headed upstairs which any other time would've intrigued James and Lily but now, Lily and James took advantage of the deserted corridor and snogged until they were interrupted by Marlene Adams herself.

* * *

"I …" Marlene sighed and grabbed Sirius pulling him out of the circle, "I'm only telling you because you seem to get this side of her better than I can," she sucked in a breath, "Her face was bruised, like badly. I think one of her eyes wouldn't even open."

Sirius' eyes darkened. "I'll find her."

Relief flooded her face, "Thank you! You're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah," and with that he turned and left, heading into the house.

It was her dad, he just knew it and somehow it didn't even surprise him.

He passed a snogging James and Lily and continued on up the stairs where he saw her through the glass door, sitting on the balcony that overlooked the party. Keeping his steps light, he stepped out onto the balcony, shutting the door behind him.

Ella flinched turning to see who'd disturbed her peace before slumping back into her chair and murmuring, "Oh, it's you."

"Don't sound so excited," Sirius quipped collapsing into the chair next to her. His stomach dropped at the glimpse he caught of her face. Marlene hadn't been exaggerating. Ella's eye was swollen shut and her cheek bone was an angry red and purple.

"What are you doing up here?"

"Marlene was worried about you."

"Drew the short straw again, did you?" she asked bitterly.

"No," he said honestly.

This surprised her, a little "oh" escaping her lips.

"What happened?" Sirius asked.

"Hmm?"

"To your face," he clarified.

"Oh," she said again. It seemed to be her word for the night. "My dad," she said quietly.

Sirius didn't need to know anymore and asked, "Do you need a place to stay?"

"No. My brother — I'm staying with my brother."

Sirius nodded. "Do you need to talk about it?"

"It was stupid," she started, "He hexed the House Elf so I," and the story spilled out of her lips like soap and even when the tears fell, she pushed through and told it. She told all of it. "I think I need a drink," she mumbled at the end.

Sirius surveyed the crowd below them and then eyeing a bottle of firewhiskey on a table, summoned it. Sirius caught it and slid it across the table to her. "There you go."

"You don't have to stay," Ella said, pressing the bottle to her lips and taking a deep sip.

"I know," Sirius said but he made no move to leave and he wasn't going to.

He remembered how this felt. He knew how you craved company and being alone at the same time. He knew all about the emptiness that followed when your own parent can't stand you. He knew it all too well but he'd had James and Sirius couldn't say when, but he decided that Ella would have him.

* * *

Marlene turned the corridor and her face fell and froze. Mia Scott's lips were puckered, brushing over Nate's lips and Marlene's eyes darkened as her heart screamed. Their lips had touched ever so lightly and Marlene could feel herself break from the inside out, could feel the tears already stinging at her eyes.

"Mia stop," Nate pushed her away. "I'm with Marlene now."

Relief for the briefest of moments and then the sudden feeling of crushing weight on her entire soul as she realised the power Nate McKinnon had over her and it terrified her and in that moment she was left thinking that maybe Adaline had had the right idea about not dating all these years.

"Oh please," Mia said, pushing herself closer to him. "You're only with her because you feel obligated because she's your childhood best friend. She's a total nag not to mention completely neurotic … You can't say that you haven't missed me. Can't say that you actually _like_ her!"

"Don't talk about Marlene like that," Nate demanded angrily, and he turned away only to see Marlene. "Marly…" he said unsurely.

"I got us our drinks but I think I might have to get us some more," she said absentmindedly, her eyes narrowing at fifth year, Mia Scott. Realisation or not, Nate was her boyfriend and no one but her closest friends got to call her neurotic. "Why you conniving little cow! In my own house!"

"This is Nate's house," Mia corrected.

"Same difference," Marlene and Nate answered together. "I want you out!" Marlene shouted.

"This is Nate's house," Mia repeated, "If he wants me to go, I will."

Marlene couldn't help herself. She pulled a Lily Evans and threw the two drinks she held onto Mia's dainty little dress, the one that was entirely inappropriate for the middle of winter.

"You know where the door is," Nate said coldly. "Come on, Marls." Nate twined his hand in hers but her hand was slack as he led her into his kitchen.

Marlene's mind spun, not paying attention to anything at all, lost in her own mind. He pushed her away. She had no reason to be mad. None at all and yet she felt the seed of anger start in her because her heart had been broken. He'd broken her heart but he hadn't meant to and yet she couldn't get the image of Mia's lips on Nate's out of her mind.

"Marls, you okay?" he asked at her deep in thought look.

"I'm just, I'm gonna find Ella. I'm getting really worried about her." Is technically wasn't a lie. She was worried about Ella.

He frowned and tightened his grip on her hand, "You know you have nothing to worry about, right?"

Marlene smiled tightly, "'Course. I'll find you before midnight." She pulled her hand out of his and went on the hunt for any of her friends. The house and yard were packed with Hogwarts students from sixth and seventh year, not to mention some of Faith's friends were floating around and Marlene found it difficult to cut through but eventually, she quite literally stumbled into James and Lily snogging.

She had heard a rumour about them shagging in the bathroom but they seemed to have moved their snogging session into the yard.

"Wow Adams, you could've just tapped us on the shoulder," James remarked.

"I tripped but since you're free," Marlene turned to Lily, "We need to talk."

"What's up?" Lily asked.

Marlene looked at James uncertainly and he swore, "Won't tell a soul."

"Mia Scott tried to kiss Nate but he pushed her away."

"I'm not seeing a problem," James admitted.

"Well, Mia called me a nag and neurotic and said that Nate was only with me because he felt obligated."

"What a bitch!" Lily exclaimed.

"I threw two drinks on her."

"Lily Evans'd her. Nice," James commented.

"That is not becoming a thing!" Lily giggled, as James wrapped his arms around her middle and normally Marlene would have commented but she was in a crisis.

"But he didn't feel obligated did he? I mean … how do I know if I'm in love?"

"Do you want to jump his bones every time you see him?" James asked. Marlene nodded. "Great, you're in love."

"James!" Lily nudged him. "There are other things too."

"Like?" Marlene questioned eagerly.

"Like who you think about when you fall asleep and who you want next to you when all your dreams come true and who you'd want to stay up 'til four a.m with."

Marlene considered. She had always imagined all those things with Nate. She said so.

"Congratulations," Lily declared, "You've always been in love with Nate then. You know what I like to do with people I'm in love with? Snog them. So go do that and stop making something out of nothing."

"But-"

Marlene was cut off as Lily jumped up and started kissing James again, pulling a face she left them alone to snog.

Marlene left them to it but she wondered how they did it. Anyone paying the slightest bit of attention could practically see the love radiating out of those two and yet they seemed so fearless about it all. How did they do it? Trust each other so fully with something so breakable. Live with the fact that with a simple change of mind, they could be left completely heart broken.

Marlene Adams was in love and it terrified her.

* * *

Ella and Sirius watched from their spot up on the balcony as everyone started the countdown from twenty.

"You should go down and enjoy the celebration," Ella told him. "I'm sure some bird would be glad to snog you for their New Year's kiss."

"I'll go down if you do. I'm sure some bloke would be lucky to snog you."

Ella snorted. "Oh yes. The bruising and puss is such a turn on."

"They're just bruises," Sirius shrugged. "I'd snog you." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and his forehead creased when he thought about just how much he'd like to snog Ella Dearborn.

Ella flushed, unsure about the compliment. "Thanks I guess."

"No problem," he said quietly, confused at where this sudden need to kiss Ella came from.

It wasn't that she wasn't fit. She was extremely fit and he'd meant it when he said any bloke would be lucky to snog her. He just hadn't thought he'd want to be the one to snog her and he actually considered it until everything dropped out of his mind like a weight to the floor as the countdown died and New Year's kisses didn't seem important anymore … to anyone.

* * *

Alice had her arms looped around Frank's neck as they shouted the countdown with the rest of the party, their shouts mingling with the crowds' and the excitement of the New Year running high.

Frank pulled away as they shouted, "SEVEN!" and Alice frowned because he pulled something out of his pocket, his eyes reading something off what looked like a fob watch.

"I have to go," Frank murmured.

"What?"

But suddenly, the wireless radio could be heard above all else and the countdown died out.

Frank grabbed Alice by her shoulders and kissed her fiercely before ripping himself away and disappearing with a pop.

* * *

Lily and James hadn't bothered with the countdown, deciding it'd be much more fun to end the year and start the new year snogging but they pulled apart when the countdown suddenly faded and the wireless said, "WE'RE BEING ATTACKED — WE'RE BEING ATTACKED! MERLIN! NO PLEASE NO! — _Avada Kedavra!_ " the voice abruptly stopped but screams, live from the exclusive New Year's Eve party being held at Flamel Hall in central London, rang live through the speakers. Names and curses and protection spells mingled into a haze. Shouts of a fire and blocked exits. A voice claiming that true wizards and witches had nothing to fear, they weren't here for them and Lily felt sick.

James pulled away from Lily his face white as a ghost, "My parents," he croaked.

Lily's face paled. Lily had helped Euphemia pick out a dress in muggle London for the event which was muggle themed.

She watched as a million emotions played across James' face and she could feel it. He was going to do something stupid. "James — don't! They'll be okay. Don't do anything stu-"

He disappeared with a pop.

The clock ticked twelve.

 _Happy New Year!_

Nobody cared anymore.

* * *

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the really late update and this mammoth of a chapter. I have two jobs in retail so December was really hectic and busy for me, hopefully now in January things will calm down a little and I'll be able to focus more on editing and updating.

Thanks to everyone who reads, follows/favs and most of all reviews!

-Natalie x


	22. Chapter 21: Time Won't Fly

" _It is with deep sadness that I speak to all of you today. Our community has been attacked on baseless and false ideologies at an event that was meant for joy and celebration. Every single member of the Ministry is deeply, deeply saddened by this tragic and horrific attack. We extend our thoughts to the families of those who have been injured and to the families of those who have been killed._

 _"It is with great regret that I announce that following the attack of terrorism on the 31_ _st_ _December, 1977, we enter 1978 in a state of war against the ideology or belief that wizards and witches with no ancestral magic are lesser than those with._

 _"All who align themselves or express agreement with Lord Voldemort's ideologies, can and will be detained by the Ministry for questioning. The Ministry will be relocating all resources to catch and capture Lord Voldemort and his followers who call themselves, Death Eaters. The consequence of being in league with Lord Voldemort is a life sentence in Azkaban._

 _"The Ministry will give their best efforts to bring justice for the families that have suffered under Lord Voldemort's terror and the Ministry will prosper until victory is celebrated."_

Everyone in the waiting room was quiet as the Minister of Magic's words reverberated and echoed. Lily wanted to laugh. _'Enter a state of war'_. It had to be a joke. Voldemort had been at large since the early seventies and only now, when a pureblood and Ministry organised event was attacked, did the Ministry see.

Only when four members of four prominent families died did the Ministry care. An Abbott, a Weasley, a Crouch and a Bulstrode.

She wanted to scream and scream and scream. Why did it take something like this for them to see? Weren't the muggle deaths enough? Weren't the executions of 'blood traitors' enough? Why did it take twenty-seven people dying? Why did it take fifty-three people being injured?

Lily was pulled out of her thoughts, out of her senseless questions, by Peter.

"They haven't got a clue how to stop him, do they?" he asked, quietly as the waiting room filled with hurried whispers and Sirius had thought that perhaps Peter had never spoken truer words.

The Minister spoke of winning the war and bringing justice and yet he managed to sound like a seventh year declaring they were going to be top in the year despite failing for the previous six.

"Blind leading the blind," Sirius muttered.

"At least they've admitted that we are actually in a war."

"They've only been in denial for about five years," Sirius muttered.

Lily tuned them out again. Their world was being thrown into absolute madness and the sad thing was, it was completely overdue.

"Is there a Miss Vance? A Miss Alice Vance?" A healer called out, squinting at a note on a clipboard.

Alice stood up, "Yes?" she said breathlessly, waiting to hear something. Good or bad, she was prepared. At least, she thought she was.

"Come with me."

Lily watched as Alice stumbled over to the healer, asking questions about Frank, about Emmeline. Lily listened to the clipped tone of the healer who informed Alice that Frank Longbottom was brought in twenty minutes ago and that he'd been asking for her. The voice disappeared as Alice and the healer disappeared behind a door.

"It's been two hours since the fighting stopped," Lily said standing up suddenly. "Why hasn't James come to find us?"

"He could be getting questioned," Sirius said quietly.

"Or he could be getting healed," Remus added in the same quiet tone.

 _Or he could be one of the twenty-seven_.

Lily paced. "And what about his parents?" She continued to pace and pace, itching at her throat as if to help her breathe as she asked questions no one knew the answer to.

"Lily you're going to burn a hole in the floor," Ella said. "Come sit."

If Lily had been in a right state of mind, she'd have asked Ella about the bruises on her face. She might have even been concerned presently but she wasn't, and Ella's bruised face was a scribbled reminder in the margins of her brain. Something to ask about later. Something to be concerned about later.

She sat besides Ella but not a moment after her butt had hit the sit was there a healer calling out, "Sirius Black and Lily Evans!" Lily was up in an instance, Sirius right next to her.

They approached the healer, a man with dark blonde hair and a kind face.

"Hello, I'm Healer Lane." He briefly shook their hands before getting to the point. "Mr and Mrs Potter has given us clearance to inform you of their situation. The Potters were brought to the hospital an hour ago, Mrs Potter with a broken hip, Mr Potter with minor burns on his legs and their son, James, was unconscious."

"Was?" Lily clung onto the word.

"He is awake and all of his minor injuries have been healed however," the healer paused and Lily wished that he wouldn't. Sirius' hand slipped into hers and squeezed, she squeezed back. "Young Mr Potter was hit by an unknown curse that has rendered him unable to walk. Our healers are still performing tests on him to find out if it is reversible."

"If?" Lily whispered, the same time Sirius asked, "Can we see him?"

"Young Mr Potter is still under examination however I can permit you to see Mr and Mrs Potter. I'm sure they'd appreciate a familiar face."

Lily wanted to shout, demand he let her see James but her mind stopped working, too many things crowded her mind and like Ella's bruised face, the need to shout was a scribbled note in a margin. Instead she found herself nodding alongside Sirius and they followed the healer into the same door that Alice went through.

* * *

He woke with the sound of screams in his ears. He wanted to know who was screaming and why. He wanted to help them but he couldn't move. A face hovered over his, talking to him but he couldn't hear her over the screaming. The screaming … he couldn't see who it was if only this strange woman would move out of the way.

"Mr Longbottom, you're okay but you've been sedated which is why you can't move," the woman was speaking but it sounded so foreign. "You have very intensive burns across your body," she continued, "and the treatment requires you to be still. Mr Longbottom, if you could stop screaming — you're okay." Her voice was calm, neither sad nor happy. Couldn't she hear the screaming? He had to help. He had to. That was his job and so many people needed help.

The doors were alive with fire that shot out and struck people who got too near. Men in masks and black robes went around striking down anyone they could, flashes of green hitting the walls, hitting people who fell instantly. So many people needed help.

Moments, minutes, hours passed and then Alice. His sweet, beautiful Alice.

"Frank?" she whispered, laying her soft hand on his cheek. "Frank, you're okay. I'm here, you're okay."

The screaming stopped. Maybe it had been him after all. Huh. He'd been so sure that he needed to help.

"You need to drink this," she told him and she held a small purple vial but she didn't wait for him to respond, he wasn't sure he could respond, before pouring it down his throat. The taste made him gag but he managed to swallow and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to sleep. "You'll be okay, honey." She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead lightly. The last thing he remembered before the darkness was the sweet scent of Alice — like jasmine and sweet pea — and he knew.

* * *

Sirius went in first. He'd stepped aside to let Lily through first but she had shaken her head. Sirius didn't mind, he needed to see that they were going to be okay. Needed to be sure, to have the indisputable proof ingrained into his memory because, though he'd never admit it to anyone — except maybe James — losing Mr and Mrs Potter would effect him more than losing his own parents.

Euphemia and Fleamont's beds were placed next to each other, about three meters apart. They were both sitting up, listening to the wireless that was on Fleamont's bedside table.

"Hello," Sirius greeted. "How're you?"

"We're just fine, dear," Euphemia assured with a smile, "They'll say I can start walking again tomorrow and Fleamont's salve is fixing up his burns nicely. It's James we're concerned about."

"James'll be alright," Sirius said because that's what you say.

"You don't know that," Lily said having finally followed Sirius into the room. "Is there any family I should contact for you?" Lily asked Euphemia and Fleamont.

"Now that you mention it, if I wrote some letters, would you be able to send them off with an owl?"

"Of course." Lily sat on a plastic chair between the two beds, conjuring another for Sirius. "Have you seen James at all?"

Euphemia patted her hand as Fleamont said, "We saw him at the party in the middle of all that commotion, almost stopped my heart." Sirius didn't miss the way her lips pursed ever so slightly and he knew it, he'd seen those pursed lips too many times not to know. "Saved Mia from getting hit by the Cruciatus though."

"I would have rather gotten hit by it than him," Euphemia said, momentarily cross. "We're just lucky he was only under for a second before an Auror intervened."

"He got hit by the cruciatus?" Lily asked weakly.

"He's fine, darling — blew up a wall five minutes later," Euphemia assured her. "He helped a lot of people escape."

"That's James," Sirius grinned. "I think we got our first ever detention for blowing up a desk in Potions."

Euphemia rolled her eyes. "The amount of owls I have gotten because you two blew something up."

"I'm really glad you're both okay," Sirius said, his grin dimming to a sincere smile.

"We know, son." Fleamont said it firmly and it wasn't often that Mr and Mrs Potter referred to Sirius as their son but when they did, it lit Sirius up from the inside out.

* * *

Alice came into the waiting room, her eyes red raw and she didn't know if it was better or worse that her friends were all there.

"Alice," Adaline called softly, shifting over to make room between her and Ella. "How was Frank?"

Alice sat down and rested her head on Adaline's shoulder. "The healer's say if the treatment goes well he should be fine but his heart or organs could go into shock from the burns." Tears dripped down her face and Adaline grabbed her hand.

"He'll be all right."

"I still haven't heard anything about Emmy," Alice said hollowly, trying to remain positive. It could be a good thing that she hadn't heard from Emmeline yet, it didn't mean she was hurt or … she could just be busy with the Order.

"Emmeline was at the party?" Ella asked.

"Yeah." Alice paused and then deciding Ella had the right to know her brother was in danger tonight, added, "She went with your brother."

"My brother?" Ella perked. "Since when do our brother and sister go out together?"

Alice shrugged and said, "I don't know," even though she did. "You haven't heard anything from Doc then?"

Ella shook her head frowning. "I didn't even know to worry about him," she murmured but she remembered what she'd forgotten. The muggle suit. He'd left in a muggle suit.

Silence fell and the reporter over the wireless kept talking as families and friends huddled around together, some crying, some anxious and some stony faced. It was the most morbid place any of them had ever been.

" _Witnesses are coming forward and sharing their experience of this horrific event however for reasons they wish to remain anonymous. I have Mr X here with me now. Mr X, how did the Death Eaters attack?"_

 _"They came through all entrances and exits and used enchanted fire to block the exits, it reached out and burnt people who got too close. They were killing based on blood. From what I saw, purebloods were only stunned or hexed to keep them out of the way."_

 _"What did you see?"_

 _"One Death Eater was about to use an unforgiveable on me but another,"_ the man's voice broke, " _Another stopped him because I am a Lovego — from a pureblood family."_

The reporter finished the interview quickly after the man let slip his last name, probably not deeming it safe to risk anymore survivors names in case Death Eaters targeted those families.

"Idiot," Ella sighed wondering how long they'd have to wait to see his names in the Deaths columns in the Daily Prophet.

Her brother's name could be in that newspaper.

The thought hit her with a lurch and a lump in her throat grew and grew. Everyone in this waiting room was probably thinking this but it couldn't be him. It couldn't be Caradoc Dearborn was dead because he was her brother and he couldn't be gone. So like everyone else in this waiting room, she pushed it out of her mind. Her brother was fine. And James would be fine. And Frank would be fine. And Emmeline would be fine. They would all be fine.

* * *

"Hey, Lils," he said as she walked to his bed.

He was sitting up in bed and he was fine. There wasn't a scratch in sight. She couldn't guess that he couldn't walk if she didn't already know. Wouldn't know that he'd been under the cruciatus if his parents hadn't told her.

"Still can't walk?" she asked, hoping that he'd tell her different. Wishing that this was one of his stupid pranks where he was just telling them he couldn't walk to send them on some medical goose chase. One of those pranks that only Sirius would find funny.

He grabbed her hand in both of his, pressing a kiss to her hand. "I'll be fine … the tests so far are showing that it wasn't a dark curse so it should be completely reversible … once they figure out the counter spell or potion or whatever."

"Once they figure — should be," she said in a daze and he pressed another kiss to her hand but she yanked away. "You can't walk!" she exploded.

It took James a considerable amount of time to calm Lily down as she paced around the room throwing her hands about and shouting. She seemed to be stuck on the 'James can't walk' bit despite having hours to process it.

"It's the only bit!" she'd exploded again. "This could have been avoided if you didn't have some moronic need to be the hero!"

"Oi, I didn't plan to get hit by a spell and my parents, hell most of my family was at that damn party, of course I was going to go help them," James defended.

"You're not even out of Hogwarts! You had no business running into that battle! And your parents are fine and they would've been fine if you had just waited!"

"No they wouldn't have," James argued. "Why do you think I got hit? Mum had fallen down the stairs, she couldn't walk, I saw a spell heading towards her so-"

"So you took the cruciatus for her! Yes, I know, Potter!"

"If it was your mum, what would you have done?" he asked her and she hated that he could keep so calm. Hated that he was right. Hated that he'd gotten hurt.

She sighed, sinking back onto the bed and facing him. "Merlin, James." He tucked her hair behind her ear and she leaned forward leaning her forehead against his, his hand cupping her face.

"Forgive me for having a moronic need to be the hero?" he whispered.

"You're going to give me grey hairs and I'm not even eighteen yet."

"There're spells for that." He pressed a light kiss to her lips. "You've visited mum and dad then? Are they all right?"

"They're fine. Healer Lane wants to keep them for observation until tonight, Sirius and I will take them home."

"Thank you," he whispered.

"They're your parents, of course." She leaned her head against his. "I hate you, you know?"

"Why's that?"

"There's just about nothing I wouldn't do for you at this point," she whispered because it terrified her. She knew that had Remus not held her back, she would have apparated blind to find him. She'd have walked through fire to get into that party and she'd have taken a cruciatus for him too. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, his hand under her hair on the back of her neck and breathed, "Me too."

* * *

Sirius, Remus and Peter walked into James' room carefully, not knowing how to act around James since he couldn't walk. Lily had told them, quite angrily, that he had seemed fine about the whole thing as though it was only a minor inconvenience but they had thought that he was just putting on a bravado. James Potter couldn't possibly last five minutes without moving his legs.

The guy was the worst desk partner in history for his inability to keep his damn legs still. Shifting them around every ten minutes and bouncing his left leg as if he had balls on the heels of his shoes.

"You okay?" Peter asked, stepping closer first.

"Brilliant," James confirmed.

"You can't, er, walk though," Peter said confused.

"Right you are, Wormtail," James agreed. "I'm seeing it as a new adventure. The healers wheel me around everywhere, it's pretty cool. It's like everyone is my personal assistant."

"But you can't walk," Remus pointed out.

James shrugged. "They'll fix me once things calm down."

"But you can't walk," Peter repeated.

James furrowed his brows, "Yes," he said slowly. "Why is everyone so sure this is a bad thing?"

"Let's see," Remus said, "You're a human, human's walk which you can't do so — Peter keep tally — that's a point for 'James not walking is bad'. Two, you can't stay still for more than a minutes so that's another tally in the 'James not walking is bad' column. Three, you're a quidditch player and that's putting it lightly."

"He breathes and lives quidditch," Sirius injected.

"Exactly so point in 'James not walking is bad' column. Now let's see, good points," Remus mocked thinking, "Well James can't walk so I suppose — Nope! Still a bad thing. How many's that?"

"Four," Peter supplied, holding up his fingers to show James.

"But think of the possibilities," James considered. "I could break a lot of records."

"Like?" Peter asked.

"First bloke to ride a broom without function of his legs."

"You cannot ride a broom without being able to move your legs," Remus deadpanned.

"Don't be such a downer, Moons," Sirius said, flopping into a chair. "I'd help him, catch him when he falls all five feet because he can't kick off the ground."

"Just because it seems impossible doesn't mean it is. I mean, does anyone really believe my dad's potion works on my hair? Because it does even though it seems impossible."

"It seems impossible that your dad's hair taming potion works on your hair?" Remus asked, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"His hair is quite a mess," Peter argued.

"I don't think anyone's hair could fight the power of SleakEzy," Sirius said. "If anything it'd be more impossible for hair to be unaffected by Monty's potion."

James huffed. "It's not that great."

"Yeah it is, mum used to make me drink it all the time," Sirius said, "Honestly, it's why I think my hair's turned out so great."

"I'm sure that's the reason and not because you drink a teaspoon of it every morning," Peter commented.

"Shh," Sirius said, looking around, "No one can learn my secrets."

The boys rolled their eyes. "Was Lily still mad?" James asked quietly.

"Yeah," Peter said, "I think she's just scared."

James nodded. He didn't need Peter to say it to know it.

* * *

Alice needed Frank to wake up now. Like right now. Laying unconscious for several hours because of severe burns was fine but laying unconscious in a room where Alice was alone with his mother was just downright rude. She'd decided that after Mrs Longbottom tried attempt number four to persuade Alice out of becoming an auror.

"Look at my darling Frank," she said, "Wouldn't it be terrible for your children to see you in this state because you're an auror."

"I don't have children, Mrs Longbottom," Alice said trying to keep the impatience out of her voice.

"Yes, yes but one day."

"One day very, very far, far away," Alice confirmed, not sure if she'd put enough 'very's and 'far's into her sentence.

"Time flies," Mrs Longbottom continued, "Before you know it you'll be out of Hogwarts and getting married and the little ones come along so quickly it's impossible to imagine where the time went."

"Well," Alice said, "Frank and I have agreed that until the war ends, our careers come first."

This put Mrs Longbottom on a spiral about how they shouldn't put their lives on hold because of a silly war and after about a minute of this Alice's patience really wore thin and she cut Mrs Longbottom off and said, "Great! Why don't you tell Frank to become a shopkeeper and raise the kids and I'll be an auror?"

"Alice?" there was a knock at the open door.

Alice looked at her sister, still in her silver dress but her almost brown locks had fallen out of it's bun and her make-up was smeared, blood on her dress but despite all that, relief flooded in.

"Emmy!" She got up running around the bed and hugging her sister tightly. "Oh thank god! I kept asking them about you but they said you hadn't been admitted and I had no idea where to look…"

"Ally," Emmeline pulled out of the hug, "I need to tell you something."

Emmeline closed the door so it was just Emmeline, Alice, a snooping Mrs Longbottom and an unconscious Frank. Words left Emmeline's mouth and they were so quick, Alice was sure she'd misheard.

"She wasn't even at the party! Mum and dad went to Aunt Susan's!"

"She's the Head of the Auror Office and a Ministry event was being attacked. They killed her. I — I saw it."

"No," Alice shook her head but she could feel the tears pricking. "She can't be."

Emmeline pulled Alice in for a hug, "I know."

And Alice cried. Loudly. Uncontrollably. Heavily.

* * *

Ella was sitting by Caradoc's bed when the door opened. Emmeline had been a wreck when she'd come to find her. She was in a silver dress that would have been pretty without the blood stains and Ella knew what Alice had said about Emmeline and Caradoc going to the party together must have been true.

Emmeline had told her in a daze what room Caradoc would be in and that he was unconscious but the healers said he'd be fine once he woke up.

"You okay?" Ella had asked.

"Mum's dead and I have to go tell Alice now."

The words shocked Ella and sent rhythms of sympathy coursing through her.

"Oh, Emmeline," Ella sighed before pulling Emmeline into a hug.

"I don't know where she is."

"She's with Frank. Room three-oh-seven. Mrs Longbottom requested a room with the number seven."

Emmeline nodded dazedly before walking off and with nothing else to do, Ella went and found her brother. He looked as though he were just sleeping so when the door opened, Ella just assumed it'd be a healer or someone but not _him_.

"How is he?"

Ella's entire being seized up in an instant. She didn't know how she got the next words out but she did. She had to.

"I — you need to leave."

"Come on, honey, don't be like that," her father pleaded. "I was just-"

"Drunk and angry, yes I know!" Ella snapped, whirling around to face him. She didn't know whether the sight of her face had stupefied him into silence but his silence fuelled her anger. "In case you've forgotten my face had a first row seat with your fist!"

"I didn't mean to," he said, not looking her in the eye.

"You don't get to say that," she whispered. "Look at my face!" she demanded but he wouldn't. He stared at the floor hoping it would swallow him up and the more he avoided looking at her the angrier Ella got. "LOOK AT ME!" she screamed so loudly she was sure the whole hospital could hear.

He looked up from shock and guilt flashed across his face as he saw the purple and green bruises that magic couldn't heal on her eyes and scabbed over cheek bone. The lone tear that ran down her face.

"Get out," Ella ordered and he left.

The door closed and Ella collapsed onto her chair, hugging her stomach as she tried to hold the sobs in as the tears fell but a moment later the door opened and Sirius Black was there.

"Fuck, I heard the yelling and then your dad was walking down the hall and fuck," he closed the door behind him and came around to her and then he got awkward, patting her on the shoulder and it all became too much.

A sob finally escaped her lips and she just needed to not feel her heart crushing in her chest. She needed to not feel the pain in her ribs every time she sobbed. She needed to not feel the sting in her cheek bone as the tears fell onto her now cracked open scab. She needed to not feel a god damned thing.

"Do something," she begged gasping through her sobs that vibrated her entire body, grabbing Sirius' wrist. "Please, do something! I can't — feel anymore! I can't, I can't! Please just do something!"

She didn't know what she wanted him to do but it surprised her when he dragged her up and hugged her so tight she almost couldn't feel because she was so focused on breathing under his tight hold.

* * *

Rita Skeeter wasn't a name the wizarding world was familiar with on December 31st, 1977. Rita Skeeter was a writer for the Daily Prophet but she wrote the engagement, wedding, births and deaths announcements. Nothing that really put her in the spotlight but on January 1st, 1978 that all changed.

It was by circumstance that Rita had been one of the only one's from the Daily Prophet to attend the New Year's party, it didn't come as a huge shock that Rita was the only one willing to write about it. It had come as a big shock when the attack had been broadcasted on the Wireless Wizarding Network, what hadn't shocked anyone in the Daily Prophet was that their Chief Editor wanted a massive scoop on the entire thing.

Rita had been all too happy to volunteer herself to write about her personal experience and what she had seen. This was her chance to get out of the announcements page. This piece could kickstart her entire career and she was planning on making it big.

Rita roamed the halls of St Mungo's talking to survivors and their families and she stayed awake all night at her typewriter, in the middle of miles of parchments and came up with a piece that she submitted to her Chief Editor at six a.m, just in time for the morning print.

By nine o'clock, everyone in the world knew Rita Skeeter's name and so began her career of scandalised, blown out of proportion stories and the wizarding world loved them.

"She's loony!" James shouted, shaking the paper frustratingly. Of course, the people she wrote about felt differently. "She's called me a 'hero' because I blew open a wall to let people out."

"It is quite heroic," Lily admitted. "Kind of hot actually."

James' eyes lit. "Does this mean you're not mad anymore?"

"Oh, love, I'm bloody furious with you."

"She's crazy!" James continued a sordid rant, questioning Ms Skeeter's sanity. "I mean why zero in on me? And she bloody names me as well! Does she want me to be dead by the end of the year?"

"If only you could walk into Daily Prophet headquarters and ask her yourself," Lily clicked her fingers in mockery.

"Can we not pick on the disabled person, please," James whined. "Lily, I'm distressed!"

"Yes I can see that. _Accio_ ," the newspaper flew out of James' hand — "Hey!" — and into the bin, "Which is why we're not going to read that anymore."

James continued to huff and puff and mumble, "Just cause I pushed the stupid woman out of the way just when a curse was about to hit her," like heroic deeds were normal.

Lily sat and listened, nodding her head along to his words in hopes he would move onto a different topic when he didn't, she interrupted him with something that had kept her up all night.

"You know, my favourite part in a book or a movie is all the little things. The things that you don't really think twice about but at the end, it's the big bang moment and everything is revealed and you're just sitting there with your jaw dropped because _oh my lord_! And everything makes sense," she twisted her hands, felt the tears pricking.

"Lils?" She could hear the worry in his voice and a tear fell. Her leg started bouncing as she tried to build up the momentum to say what she needed to say.

"Nothing makes sense anymore, James," she whispered. "I — when Professor Ollivander knocked on my door and told me I was a witch it was the big bang. Everything made sense. Suddenly, I knew why I could fly off the swing. I knew why I could make flowers grow in my palm. I knew why I could make the door slam without touching it. But now," she shook her head as fat tears slipped down her face. "Now not a god damned thing makes sense. None of it. None of _this._ " She gestured around the room hopelessly.

"Lily, if you're looking for a why…" James trailed off before demanding, "Come here," and with effort he shifted to one side of the bed. Lily looked at him, wiped her eyes and then walked across the room, sliding onto the bed as his arm came around her. At least he could still do that.

"I just, I don't know what to do and I don't know why."

"I don't think we ever will find out why this is happening."

Lily shook her head. "We do, it just seems too silly to accept it." She paused. "You know, the muggles had a huge war in the forties, so huge they called it World War Two."

"That's some war," James admitted.

"It all started because Germany invaded Poland in Hitler's attempt to make more room for the superior race. Hitler didn't like people who weren't German. Jews particularly though that didn't stop him from slaughtering whoever got in his way."

"Why were Jews different?"

"They had different beliefs, believed in a different religion, came from foreign countries and Hitler thought they were an abomination, that they didn't have the right to be in their society. That they were damaging. He invaded homes and countries, created ghettos and death camps where Jewish people were forced to go. They were numbered, herded and slaughtered like cattle." She was quiet for a moment. Reflecting. Trying to figure out what it was she actually wanted to say. "Six million Jews died and I don't think any of them ever got their big bang moment because the reason was because a man with power decided that they weren't worth it and that just isn't enough. It'll never be enough."

James didn't know what to say or do as she sobs shook her entire body. It was hard to imagine that muggles had fought a war so similar only forty years earlier and he wondered if that was how life worked with history repeating in different ways in different times.

"Who won?" James murmured.

"The Allies — not the Germans, after six years of the world's biggest and dirtiest war."

James hugged her tight and said, "But they won and we will, too."

"You can't even walk."

"Hey, no picking on the disabled person, remember?"

She sniffled and smiled softly. "Promise me that you'll get better and that you'll learn that running into battles is not the greatest idea."

"So then you can have your big bang and this can make sense?" She nodded. He kissed her forehead. "I'll walk again, Lily. I promise."

The door opened and Lily sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and wiping her face with her sleeves.

"Oh, Mia, Monty," Lily greeted. "I thought they wanted you on bed rest."

James frowned, "Mum, Lily's right. You shouldn't be walking yet."

"I'm fine," she waved off sitting down, choosing to not broach the topic of why Lily was crying and Lily was grateful. "And why's the prophet in the bin?" Euphemia asked, picking it out and just like that they were back onto the trivial topic of Rita Skeeter. Perhaps it was easier to focus on the trivial stuff, the stuff that didn't really matter because thinking about the twenty-seven people who died was too hard.

"Because this woman has, has _ostracised_ me to be some sort of hero!"

"I think that's a little far fetched," Fleamont said mildly. "She's painting you as a hero not a dementor."

"All I did was blow open a wall," James grumbled, "A first year could do that."

"And you jumped in front of an unforgiveable for me," Euphemia interrupted, "And no first year would have done that."

"That doesn't make me the — what did she call me again, Lily?"

"The 'People's Hero'."

"No, but it makes you my hero," Euphemia kissed his forehead, "And we're keeping this prophet because even if a first year could do it, it shows that my seventeen year old son was the one to keep his head and actually think of blowing open a wall and I'm very proud."

"Sure, now you're proud that I blew open a wall," James grumbled, "In fourth year, it was all ' _that's unacceptable, James, do you blow walls open at home? No, then you shouldn't blow them open at school!_ '"

"I remember that howler," Lily smirked, "It was school gossip for a week."

"Oh, did you hear that Monty, I was famous at Hogwarts for a week!"

"I'm famous all the time," Fleamont shook his head, "You have to do better than that, darling. Even the People's Hero has you beat and he can't even walk!"

Lily laughed but James grumbled, "I'm not the People's Hero!"

* * *

His eyes opened. It felt like years and years of her waiting, sitting in the same spot, waiting for him to wake up and now he was awake and she didn't know if she could force the words out. She'd refused to leave Frank's room after Emmeline had told her. Ella had come, Marlene, Remus, Peter, Sirius and then last of all was Della but she barely heard a word they said.

They had all sat with her for a while, on the opposite side of Frank's bed but Alice didn't talk, couldn't, wouldn't, she didn't know the difference anymore but it was like her mouth was spelled shut because every time she went to say something, nothing came out.

When Lily came it was the worst. She had tears in her eyes and said she knew a little of what Alice was going through because her dad died. Lily said it'll get better with time, the hurt will go away but Alice didn't want the hurt to go away, she just wanted her mum back. She just wanted to hug her mum and tell her, _I love you_.

The last thing she'd ever said to her mum was _bye_. Alice had gone over it a thousand times already. Alice had been getting ready to leave for Frank's and she had shouted _bye_ from the front door. Her mum had been in the kitchen.

"Don't apparate drunk!" was the last thing that Alice Vance heard her mother say and it wasn't enough for Alice. It shouldn't have been so mundane, so ordinary. There should've been more meaning — Alice hadn't even responded. She'd rolled her eyes and closed the door, apparating immediately from the front step.

"Alice?" Frank croaked with a wince.

Alice leaned over. "Hi," she whispered but barely anything came out, her throat was dry. She tried again, "Hi."

He frowned. "What happened?"

"You were badly burnt at Flamel Hall. The healers say your burns have settled down considerably and that once you'd woken you'd be out of the woods."

"No, I meant why are you crying?"

She touched her face and said, "Oh." She hadn't notice the slick tears falling down her face. "My mum is dead."

"Oh, Ally," he grabbed her face as small sobs started to wrack her body. She climbed onto the bed and he wrapped her arms around her as she sobbed.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You don't have to do anything," he assured her, stroking her hair soothingly. "Just get it all out."

"She — she wasn't even s-supposed to be there!" Alice cried. "I don't - don't un-understand why." Her sentences were interrupted with sobs and tears and it broke Frank's heart to see her crying for her mother like this.

"I hate them," she said fiercely after her crying had slowed down. "I hate all of them."

Frank kissed the top of her head and agreed, "Me too."

* * *

He heard it on the radio, sitting next to someone else's unconscious brother. He didn't mind sitting there. It meant he had an excuse not to see James not walking and Ella needed the support even if she kept insisting that she was okay. She didn't have to be and Sirius would be there when she realised that.

The words came, vibrating out of the little box, loud and frantic, no doubt heard by the entire nation twenty-four hours after war was declared. Words that would have people reaching for a neat shot of firewhiskey. Words that would have people adding extra locking charms to their doors. Words that would make sure a nation was never the same again.

 _The Minister Of Magic is dead_.

 _The Minister of Magic is dead but the Ministry has not fallen._

Words telling them that no one was safe. Not even the Ministry.

How had it only been less than two days?

* * *

A memorial was held on January 3rd, the day before the Hogwarts Express was to leave for Hogwarts. Thought of school seemed so trivial to Marlene. Too much had happened. A further four people had died in St Mungo's bringing the total up to thirty-one deaths and it was obvious that the Ministry didn't have a fucking clue what to do.

They all met up for the memorial though. For Alice's mum. For the people who had needlessly died. Marlene pulled out the only black dress she owned. It was simple enough, modest enough. It swept to her calf and the neckline reached her throat. With a flick of her wand her thin blonde strands rearranged themselves into a smooth bun at the nape of her neck and with another flick, her cloak was fastening itself around her neck.

A knock on the door.

"Marly! Hurry up! The McKinnons are waiting!"

"Coming!" she told her little brother. He didn't seem so little anymore though. When he'd been in his first year she didn't have to worry about protecting him, the war that brewed was only noticeable if you paid attention. As they both got older, she tried to shield him — had told him he had nothing to worry about and that they'd be fine. It all seemed so pointless now.

She stuck her wand in her clutch and left the room, meeting the McKinnons and Henry in the front yard.

"Let's go shall we?" Nate held out a hand but Marlene shook her head curtly.

"I'll apparate with Henry."

"Oh, I was going to apparate them," Faith offered.

"That's okay, I've got him," Marlene declined the offer.

"Marlene," Nate clicked.

"Let's go, Henry." She grabbed her brother's hand and twisted on the spot, reappearing in an old cemetery, Peverell Cemetery. It was the only purely wizard and witch cemetery in Great Britain and mainly purebloods chose to be buried there. It was a large lot of land with a large church in the centre.

"Why're you being so weird for?" Henry retorted, dropping her hand once they had landed.

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Shut up," Marlene hissed as the others materialised around them. "I'm going to go find Alice. Stay with the McKinnons!"

She walked off without another word and, annoyingly, Nate followed her. The cemetery was crowded. A sea of black cloaks and coats. Parents keeping a tight hold of children's hands, groups huddling together. Some were crying, some were just talking as if this were just another social event.

She seized up when he grabbed her arm to halt her pace.

"Marls!"

"What?"

He sighed and pulled a hand over his face, looking at her hopelessly. "Let's just go find the others, yeah?" he dropped her arm and walked ahead of her, leaving her to lag behind him.

A shock of red hair startled her out of her thoughts and she called, "Lily!"

The girl flinched and upon seeing Marlene, slumped and said, "Oh, hello Marlene. Nate."

"Hey, Lily," Nate greeted dimly.

"You came with the boys?" Marlene asked.

"Just Sirius," she supplied. "He's looking for Remus and Peter. I'm supposed to be finding you lot."

"Any sign of Alice?" Marlene asked.

Lily shook her head. "We should go get some seats though."

Marlene looped her arm with Lily's as they approached the church together. "You okay?" Marlene murmured.

"We — James can't come to school until they fix his legs and there's not really a time on that."

"Oh, honey," Marlene sighed. "He'll be all right."

Lily nodded. "At least he's not dead, right?"

"Always so morbid, Evans," Black came seemingly out of nowhere, slinging an arm around Lily's shoulders. "Found Ella and Della."

"Ella!" Marlene exclaimed, pulling away from Lily to give her a huge hug. With all that had happened, she'd admittedly forgotten that Ella was going through _something_ but seeing her bruised face … she questioned how she could have forgotten. "Sleepover tonight?" she whispered in her ear. "Please say yes."

Ella pulled out of the hug and nodded discretely. Marlene gave Adaline a kiss on the cheek and asked for Alice but Adaline shook her head. "I was over at their house yesterday," she shook her head. "I offered to come to the house in the morning for Alice but she, she didn't want me to."

"She just needs space," Ella suggested as they started the shuffle into the church, "Time to grieve with her dad and sister … Anything about Frank?"

"He's still in and out but healers are confident he'll make a full recovery," Lily said. "It's just the potions he's taking that are making him so sleepy."

They found seats near the back and only after they'd sat, did they see the remainder of the Vance family. Emmeline and Alice were walking behind their father, arms looped together and Marlene had never seen Alice like that.

She'd changed her hair to it's original deep brown colour — the colour she'd inherited from her mother — and it framed her round face in wild curls. Her face didn't have a spot of make-up on her — the girl who'd miss breakfast just to put some make-up on before classes. She wore a black dress that Marlene had never seen before with a black cloak — she'd never seen Alice wear so much black.

If you didn't know that was Alice Vance walking down the aisle, you never would have known that was Alice Vance. Marlene supposed that's what war did. It changed people. Changed the way they saw the world. Changed their attitude. It may be a little, it may be a lot but no person came out of a war unscathed and that was a lesson they'd all learn.

Marlene could already count the scars on Alice. Her mother, dead and her boyfriend, almost dead. Two prominent scars and she'd never be the same Alice that Marlene had known only three days ago because it wasn't just that the person is gone, it's all the things that should've been. It's the tears a mother would shed at her daughter's wedding. It's the advice a mother would give. It's the support a mother would provide. It's the knowledge of so many what if's and if only's.

Two scars and three days, Alice Vance looked five years wiser.

* * *

He wasn't the only one who noticed when she stood up and left the church in the middle of the ceremony. He was the only one who went after her though. The others all offered but Remus had the aisle seat and he was up and away before the others got the chance to follow.

She was pacing on the side of the church, unfastening her cloak and letting it fall to the floor. She looked up as he approached.

"It's getting hot, isn't it?" she asked, her hand rubbing her throat.

"Lily, it's four degrees." He remembered reading that in the Prophet.

Goosebumps pricked at her skin but she didn't seem to register them as she kept pacing. "Is it?" she asked, her hand still at her throat. If Remus didn't know any better, he'd call it clawing. She was clawing at her throat.

"You okay?" he asked knowing the answer must be negative.

"I was just sitting there," she looked at him, "Listening to all the relatives of someone who'd died and I couldn't," she broke off, pacing away from him. "I kept imagining if it had been James and I couldn't," she broke off again and her breathing deepened.

Remus took a step closer and wrapped his arms around her, to keep her warm if anything. "He's fine," Remus assured her but the more he said it the shallower her breaths became.

"But he can't walk and - and what if the healers can't fix him?" she questioned.

"They will," Remus murmured.

"What if he can't do what he wants to do — and if he can't walk he can't play quidditch or — or help you with your furry little problem or, or, or-"

Remus leaned back, keeping his hands on her shoulders, watching as her face turned bright red from lack of oxygen as Lily ranted on and on and finally, he slapped her and demanded, "Breathe!"

She took a breath. The red lessening. Her hand slipped from her throat. She stepped away from Remus and picked her cloak from the floor, fastening it around her neck.

"Lily," Remus said, "I think-"

"What?" she snapped.

"I — have you ever had panic attacks before?"

She shook her head curtly and said, "Don't tell anyone," before walking off back into the church.

He watched her for the rest of the day. Noticed how she smiled tightly at something Sirius said, how quiet she was, how withdrawn. But it was a memorial for people who had died. James could've died but he didn't, though she was obviously still taking it hard.

Peter suggested grabbing a bite and some drinks after the memorial but Lily turned to Marlene and Ella, "I think, I'm just going to go. I said I was going to visit James and visiting hours are over soon."

"Lily?" Remus asked, breaking away from whatever Peter and Sirius were talking about. He gave her a pointed look. _Are you okay?_

She nodded. "I just need to go."

* * *

James looked up when the door opened. He was doing the crossword in the Daily Prophet and she smiled and said, "It's funny, muggles have crosswords too." Despite the morbid dressing, a black dress and a black cloak with a floral pattern stitched on the hems, she looked rather pretty. The black made her hair stand out.

"Maybe that would actually give me a challenge," James said tossing the newspaper aside. She crawled onto the bed next to him and he put his arm around her, letting her nestle her head on his chest. "How was the memorial?"

"Sad. Where are your parents?"

"Healers sent them home. Mum's hip bone is healed, no complications and dad just needs to apply a salve to his burns twice a day," he paused. "Mum cried when she left."

"I don't want to leave you," she whispered.

"You sound like mum."

"I don't want to go back to school."

"You have to," James said sternly. "Now tell me about the memorial because there is no way I'm reading that Skeeter woman ever again."

"What's there to say?" she asked tiredly. "People died. Everyone was sad. A lot of people cried."

"Well, how was Alice?"

Lily tsked annoyed. "How do you want her to be, James? Her mum died."

"Hey, calm down, I know." _I was there_ , he wanted to say but that would just open up a whole other can of worms that he didn't think Lily — or him — wanted to get into right now. "I just meant," he sighed. "Did you speak to her at least?"

She shook her head. "She was with her family and the crowd was too large."

James' eyes flickered to the clock over the door and he waved his wand to turn on the wireless.

"I thought they said you shouldn't use magic in case it drains your energy." She propped herself up on her elbow.

"I turned the wireless on, not produced a patronus."

"James," she said sharply.

"Shh, the news is about to start," he hushed her.

" _Good afternoon, folks. I'm Bethany Forbes here with Philip MacKenzie. This morning the memorial for those lost in the New Year's Eve attack at Flamel Hall was held at Peverell Cemetery. Five hundred and eighty-four people attended the memorial, a record number for any service held at Peverell Church. More on the memorial later, in other news, the Ministry elected a new Head for the Auror Office. Albert Fenwick has taken up the position after serving as a senior Auror for seven years."_

A man's voice continued on. _"Albert Fenwick has worked for the Auror Office for the last fourteen years and is among the most highly regarded with an average of fifty-two arrests per year. His most noticeable cases include the Francaise and Gordon cases for which he was awarded an Order of Merlin Second Class-"_

With a wave of her wand the radio turned off, she looked at him. "Maybe I should just wait to come back with you."

James furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"I was thinking, that I should just wait to go back to school … just a few days until you're better."

Her eyes were wide and pleading and he wanted to say yes. _Stay with me,_ he wanted to say because he'd like nothing more than quiet days with Lily but he knew better than to say what he really wanted. One of them had to be strong and there were futures to think about — not to mention the fact that McGonagall would never allow it.

"You know you can't."

"Why not?" she asked, resting her head on his chest again. "It's only going to be a few days."

"It could be," James agreed carefully. "Or it could be a week or two or three. The healers don't know yet and you have to go to school. It's N.E. ."

"Right. N.E. ," she said in a tone that worried James. Lily was not one to scoff at academics.

"Besides, are you really going to entrust Sirius to send homework to me?"

She was quiet for an antagonising amount of time before she agreed with a tired, "Suppose not."

"Alright, Evans?" he murmured into her hair.

"I just," she sighed into his chest. "I wish we could skip all of this. I wish we could wake up tomorrow and five years will have passed and everything will just be happy and normal."

* * *

A/N: Hello Everyone! Thank you for reading as always!

Please review, follow, fav! It really means a lot to me and it motivates me to keep posting new chapters!

There are only roughly five chapters left of them at school so these last few chapters will be about setting them up for their life out of Hogwarts which I can't wait to start posting because I feel like they all come together as a family a lot more as they deal with harsher realities.

Again, thank you so much for reading! It really does mean a lot!

-Natalie xx


	23. Chapter 22: Don't Blame Me

For the first time in the history of the Hogwarts Express, the compartments weren't filled with laughing, talkative kids but rather despondent young adults worried and saddened by the events that had passed. Any student who had held onto their innocence after the murder of Charlotte Blake and the attacks on Steve Nettles, Lily Evans, George Rogers and Mia Scott, had severed ties with it now.

Eleven year olds read the Daily Prophet like one may hold a mock seance with a torch under a white sheet. Fourteen year olds had their crushes pushed to the back of their minds worrying about their families who were outside the protection of Hogwarts. Seventeen year olds couldn't bring themselves to open a book because would they even have a future?

It couldn't be truer for their friend group who all sat in a compartment. Eight out of ten and it felt so empty to them.

Lily knew it shouldn't be like this. Lily should be sitting on James' lap for lack of room and Marlene should be telling them the latest gossip and Sirius should be trying to flick little balls of candy wrap into her mouth whilst she talked. Remus would try to freeze the little balls in mid air, missing repeatedly and hitting Peter's cheek 'by accident'. Peter would retaliate by summoning Remus' chocolate and Ella would roll her eyes and stuff herself more firmly into the corner to pretend to read harder. Alice would already be writing her first letter to Frank for the semester and Nate would actually be doing homework making the rest of them feel bad.

Instead, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter all seemed a little lost without James. Remus kept glancing at Lily and had anyone not been caught up in their own thoughts, they might've noticed. It irked Lily to no end. So she'd had a tiny, slight panic attack. It wasn't a big deal. A lot of people had them. She wasn't a precious flower that needed to be looked after.

Alice was missing, a gaping hole that exposed the truth of what was to come. The pain that riddled her life would riddle all their lives and they all knew it was only a matter of time. They would be safe at Hogwarts but they wouldn't be at Hogwarts forever. Six months never seemed so short.

Even if Alice were here, she'd be the living, breathing reminder and no one would know what to say to her, how to act around her. Her mum died and she wasn't supposed to. She was killed. Not even Lily knew what to say to make her feel better.

Marlene was giving Nate the cold shoulder, though no one but Ella knew why. The adventures of Nate and Mia Scott on New Year's Eve before everything else had happened was explained to Ella in excruciating detail by Marlene and had been replayed and analysed. They'd come to the conclusion that Nate did not want to kiss Mia, Ella a few hours sooner than Marlene but they got there nonetheless. Marlene, being Marlene, was in denial and didn't want to admit that the kiss bothered her and so she was ignoring him as much as she could ignore someone who lived next to her and went to the same school as her. Nate was obviously frustrated with this.

Adaline was reading a new article in the Daily Prophet by Rita Skeeter, reading out particularly sad stories about survivors, wondering how easily any of these people could have been one of her brothers.

Somehow, it left Ella to pull everyone out of their funk since Caradoc had woken up, she'd been left in relatively good spirits. Sirius had been keeping her company, too and somehow he just made things better. He didn't force her to talk about it like Marlene did but he wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions because he knew. Perhaps it was sad that Sirius had already been through something similar to what she went through and as much as she wished he'd been spared the hurt, these last few days it made her glad because Sirius Black was exactly what she needed.

So she rummaged through her trunk to the annoyance of everyone else in their train compartment and pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey.

"I was saving this for literally anything else but I think we need it," she said.

"We can't drink on the train," Lily said with no heart.

"Oh, sorry _Head Girl_ ," Ella rolled her eyes and took a swig, holding the bottle out to Lily. "Come on, Lily."

Lily sighed and took the bottle, not having really cared to begin with, having her own sip before passing it to Sirius.

The bottle circulated around the compartment but no one spoke except for the odd sentence. They found that this wasn't a time for talking but rather a chance to just be for eight hours until reality hit them again and the despair sunk in once more.

* * *

The funeral was huge. People Alice had never even met had shown up. People Alice's mum had never even met had shown up. People from the Ministry, people she'd solved cases for, journalists who'd mentioned her in more than one article, people who just wanted to pay their respects to the woman who was in charge of keeping them safe. Someone from the Ministry made a long speech about how brilliant Cressida Vance was. They talked about all the changes she made in the Auror Office and blah, blah, blah.

Alice hated it. She hated all of it. She hated the speech. She hated the people. She hated the Ministry flag draped over the coffin. Her mother would have hated this too but Alice didn't get a choice. Her mother certainly didn't. The only thing Alice hated more than the funeral was the house.

The house didn't feel like home anymore. It felt empty without Cressida Vance, which was the most ridiculous thing because Cressida was never a nesting kind of person. She never baked or cooked, she never set flowers on the tables or burned candles and yet the house felt different. It was stupid really. Cressida had been out of the house more times than she'd been in the house.

Cressida had taken exactly two years off, give and take a few holidays, from work. One year when Emmeline was born and one when Alice had been born. After that, Cressida worked and worked and worked only taking two weeks off during the summer and a week at Christmas.

Alice had loved that about her mother. She loved seeing her mum work and whenever she had gotten a promotion, there was always a celebration. When she'd come home with the news that she'd been made Head of the Auror Office, they had a party. But it wasn't one of those snooty parties with a bunch of pureblood families. It was their closest friends and family having a barbecue out in the yard with music and laughter.

Alice loved that her mother wasn't the type to flaunt her wealth. Born into and married into pureblood families meant she never had to work a day in her life but Alice's mum wasn't a socialite like so many pureblood women were. She worked and she did it with ambition, with goals and drive that was inspiring and almost unheard of for a woman in that time.

So her mum would have hated this over the top funeral that boasted so many flowers Alice could smell them from meters away.

The worst was when the coffin floated down into a muddy hole.

Was this it? She'd just be buried in the dirt and her body would be allowed to decay and turn to dust until she was nothing anymore with only a marble headstone to say she had lived and was loved. It wouldn't tell people about her lovely smile and her pretty laugh. Wouldn't tell people that Cressida Vance was not a woman you wanted to get angry because she was scary when she's mad. Wouldn't tell people about her hobby of collecting muggle items. Wouldn't tell people that she had almost ineligible handwriting that even her daughters struggled to read. All these little things that would be lost into the universe and Alice couldn't help but think, _was this it_?

Her body shook with suppressed sobs as she was forced to throw a handful of dirt on her mother's coffin and the realisation that this was it. She wasn't allowed her mother anymore. Her mother was gone.

* * *

 _Hi love,_

 _Hope things aren't too boring at Hogwarts without me. The healers have me drinking this absolutely revolting potion but they say that it should slowly start giving me movement in my legs again so I'll only complain a little. They say by the end of next week I should be able to come back to school if the potion works like it should._

 _You'd find it rather interesting actually. It's all got to do with the nervous system. Basically, their tests concluded that the curse put my nerves in my leg asleep and this potion is meant to slowly nudge them awake. I don't know, Healer Lane seems to think it'll work and my dad does too. You should've seen him light up about the engineering of the potion, it was like someone had bought him the latest broom._

 _The food here still sucks. You'd think a hospital would have house elves doing the cooking but nope it's just some old, irritable witch who can't cook to save anyone's life, which is ironic really since we're in a hospital._

 _Mum and dad come everyday so it's not so boring, I suppose. Mum's found some of those muggle board games you mentioned over Christmas and after we got the hang of how to play, the healers had to quiet us down several times. You know, for a game without magic Monopoly can get quite heated. I suppose I'll have less time to play once you start sending me the school work I'm missing._

 _Love Always, your exceptionally handsome boyfriend, James._

Lily slumped at the breakfast table. Nine days until he'd be back.

Lily wasn't one of those girls who couldn't function without James but she couldn't help but feel that his absence meant something greater. Like it was eluding to all the things to come and it made her angry. They were only seventeen.

"Lils?" Sirius asked pointedly. "You okay?"

"Hmm?" she snapped out of her thoughts.

"I asked if you could pass the butter."

"Oh," she passed it to him and then, quietly, "Can I borrow your mirror?"

He frowned but dug it out of his pocket and handed it to her. She stood up immediately and he called after her, "You didn't eat anything!"

"Leave her," she heard Marlene tell him. "She's been like this ever since…" whatever else she said faded as Lily exited the hall. She entered an empty classroom and propped the mirror in front of her face.

"James." Nothing. "James." She bit her lip nervously. Why wasn't he answering? "James!"

She started bouncing her leg as the tears started falling. At this point she didn't even know why except that she hated this. All of it. She hated the war and people dying and getting hurt and for what? For nothing. It was all for nothing and she hated it.

"Lily?"

She grabbed the mirror hopefully but it only showed her her own reflection and the door clicked shut. "Oh, hello, Remus." She wiped her face with the sleeve of her robe and slipped the mirror into her pocket.

"Don't sound so disappointed," he joked. "He didn't answer?"

She shook her head. "Idiot's probably still sleeping or something."

"You okay?"

Merlin, people needed to stop asking her that. It was all anyone asked her. Marlene, Adaline, Ella. She could be doing nothing and one of them, without fail, would ask her. Yesterday, she got up to go to the bathroom and Marlene asked her. Like honestly, she wasn't okay but even okay people needed to use the damn bathroom.

"I'm fine," she said. "Let's go."

"Did you do the Charms homework? I had a bit of trouble with it."

"I'm doing it at lunch," Lily decided, not wanting to admit that she'd forgotten about the homework.

"It was hard," Remus frowned.

Lily shrugged. "Worse comes to worse, I'll get Sirius to help me. Come on, we'll be late for Transfiguration."

She opened the door and let Remus exit first before following.

"Oi, Evans," Sirius shouted across the Entrance Hall. She looked over in time to see an apple flying at her head. She caught it with a frown. "Thought you could use something to eat," Sirius said with a shrug at her annoyed look at having an apple thrown at her head.

Lily slipped it into her pocket and said, "Thanks."

Sirius frowned. "Did you talk to James?"

She shook her head and asked him if he could help her with Charms at lunch. He raised an eyebrow at Remus. "You still haven't done charms?"

She shook her head. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Yeah, 'course."

"Brill," Lily said, walking ahead of them.

"You know, you're supposed to eat the apple!" Sirius called after her.

* * *

It was a quiet night in the common room, it usually was these days. Marlene had never experienced Hogwarts so quiet but it probably helped that over twenty kids had been pulled out. The half that hadn't been pulled out, knew someone who had been at the party or they themselves had been there. The other half were just stumbling about trying to figure out what to do next.

Marlene had noticed that Lily was taking the absence of James extremely hard. She barely ate, playing with her food instead of eating it. In class, she was completely spaced out and when she wasn't in class she was sitting by a window reading books and not even textbooks. Novels. Muggle novels. It was all very un-Lily. Especially now that all their teachers were increasing their work load.

Alice was a whole other story. Adaline would have to drag her out of the library ten minutes before curfew. It seemed the death of Mrs Vance had fuelled Alice's need to get into the Auror office and the night the Ministry announced that the new Head of the Auror Office would be Albert Fenwick, she stayed up all night studying Defence. The girls didn't know what to do with her as much as they knew what to do about Lily.

Marlene didn't even want to touch her own life. How could she when there was so much tragedy around and here she was having normal relationship problems? And so she and Nate sat up late at a table doing homework in the common room. They didn't have much to say about anything since New Year's Eve. Marlene kept insisting she was fine and Nate was convinced she wasn't. It left them at a standstill of awkward conversation and stunted intimacy that left them both feeling awful by the end of the day.

Nate's hand brushed hers as they both went to dip their quill into the ink pot and she flinched as though struck by a stinging spell. Nate tried to move past it, he did because he knew that Marlene would talk about it when she was ready and yet … She was infuriating him.

Ever since they'd been little, Marlene loved to talk about everything especially things she had problems with. She could lecture her brothers for years about the wet towels they leave in the bathroom and discuss with her mum for hours just how terrible the war was getting. Marlene was a talk until you get a solution kind of gal so it worried him endlessly that she didn't want to talk about this — or anything — and it infuriated him.

"Doesn't this game exhaust you?" he asked her tiredly. "My parents could've died and instead of being focused on my family, I've been worried about us."

"My feelings aren't a game," Marlene said, guarded. "And I've told you there's nothing to worry about."

"We both know that's a lie so what are you feeling? Or are we just supposed to continue like this until I guess why?" Marlene didn't, couldn't say anything. "Because if I have to guess, I'd say you're feeling insecure about Mia."

"You know what? Maybe I am because you kissed her!"

"She kissed me and I stopped her," Nate said calmly.

Marlene looked into his ocean blue eyes and swallowed. His eyes were so intense, she should be used to them by now. She'd grown up looking at those eyes but it was amazing the things that could take your breath away when you started to pay attention. Seven year old Marlene could care less about the colour of Nate McKinnon's eyes but seventeen year old Marlene would go to bed thinking about those eyes and that completely terrified her.

"You still let it happen!" she retorted after an eternity seemed to have passed.

"I couldn't help it — one minute we were talking the next second she kissed me. But you have nothing to worry about. I don't want Mia. I want you."

"I just, there's too many _things_ happening," Marlene huffed. "I just, I need space, okay? I just need to think without you pestering me about what's wrong and without someone talking about the war and the deaths and You-Know-Who!"

"Space?" Nate laughed. "Marlene you hate having space! You talk everything to death so why don't you want to talk about this?"

"Maybe if I had space I could figure it out!" She turned and left and Nate let her go knowing it wouldn't be long before she would be back.

The thing was she did know. He was right she was insecure and she shouldn't be and she was trying. Trying not to do the thing that she does. Trying to get over it on her own because it was embarrassing to admit that she was insecure about a fifth year girl. She didn't want to prove her right. Didn't want to prove that she was neurotic and a nag.

So she'd keep everything in until the bad feeling passed and it would pass, if only he stopped asking her about it every five seconds.

* * *

"Your bruises have really come down," Sirius said, plomping into the seat next to Ella.

She shrugged. They had come down, barely noticeable if she put a little make-up on and her eye had opened up days ago. "So I asked Doc why he was at that party."

"And?"

"Said he couldn't tell me."

Sirius frowned, "He couldn't tell you why he was at a party?"

"I know. I want to ask Alice if she knows anything because Emmeline told me about Doc but … you know. Anyway," she changed the subject, "He said I can live with him full time after Hogwarts."

"After Hogwarts," Sirius mused, "It feels like it's all coming at once, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Figuring out where to live, what to do, growing up."

"Have you figured it out?"

Sirius shrugged. "I'll see where the boys end up."

"What about a job?"

"Auror seems to make the most sense. How about you?"

"Something in the Ministry. I've been looking for job openings in the Prophet and found a few. I'm going to owl them for the application."

"Have you had your career meeting with McGonagall yet?"

She shook her head, "You?"

"Tomorrow."

"You know, I always imagined you and James doing something together and it's always either totally reckless and dangerous or so absurd and ridiculous like a joke shop."

"Maybe when we get bored of our reckless and dangerous job, aye?"

She laughed. "Is he getting better?" she asked referring to James.

"Wrote me this morning. Said he's got feeling in his upper thighs but he still can't move or feel anything below his knees. I think he's a little down … he can't really talk to Lily about it because she's been off since the attack and he doesn't want to add to it but he complains that he's bored. He's worried he's missing too much school for NEWT year." Sirius shrugged.

A book slammed shut and both Ella and Sirius looked up to see Marlene snapping something at Nate before stalking off to the girls' dormitory.

"Oh, she's going to be a nightmare," Ella complained.

"Did you tell her about your dad?" Sirius asked.

Ella nodded. "She wouldn't let it go so I told her a very short version. But the other girls don't know."

Sirius nodded. "Are you really going to live with your brother after Hogwarts?" he asked wrinkling his nose. He could not imagine living with his brother — hell they couldn't pass each other in the hallway without drawing their wands.

"It's better than living with my parents," she shrugged. "Anyway, I might end up rooming with Adaline. We're the only ones sans boyfriend."

"You think James and Lily will shack up?"

Sirius hadn't really given it much thought. In fact, he hadn't given it any. He'd always expected to live with James after Hogwarts but he supposed things had changed.

Ella shrugged. "Looks like it's going that way."

* * *

Remus stopped her as she was about head up to her dorm.

"Hey, do you want to head to the library tomorrow? I've been having trouble with potions."

"Oh," Lily said, her eyes widening slightly. "I haven't done the homework yet so I won't be much help."

Remus frowned. "We could do it together?"

"I don't really feel like doing potions homework."

"Lily, I know things with James … but you still have school to think about — your future!"

"You act like I'll have one," she hissed.

"Lily!" Remus said, truly shocked to his core.

"Let's face it, Moony," she said sighing, "It'll be a miracle if I come out of this war alive. The Minister of Magic, Remus, they murdered the Minister of Magic. And James can't even walk! Do you want to know how many students have left Hogwarts since New Years? Forty-three. And the Ministry," she sighed, "Instead of doing something to fight for our rights, are offering to smuggle us out of the country as though we don't belong here. As though we don't deserve to be fought for. Like we don't have the right." She breathed in shakily, blinking back the tears. "So no Remus, I don't give a damn about Potions homework."

Remus let her go without a fight as she climbed the stairs two at a time because everything she said was right. The wizarding world was thrown into chaos since Minchum declared war because now that it was official, Voldemort became bolder in his attacks and the Ministry was still running around like a headless chicken.

Millicent Bagnold bravely took up the position in a time where no one wanted to be Minister of Magic and new laws under new legislation titled, _War Amendments 1978_ were being made faster than the Prophet could print them. Laws that were meant to keep people safe. Curfews and potion ingredient restrictions. Diagon Alley now shut at four in the afternoon, shopkeepers forcing to close earlier than usual. Wizarding towns had Ministry patrols and anyone found out after curfew would have to volunteer at the Ministry as punishment.

The Ministry was offering to put protective spells around people's homes however it was on a request only basis and service was slow. The Ministry offered portkeys to wizarding Paris — Bagnold had been quick to announce that one. Azkaban was running out of cells.

Alastor Moody was quickly becoming the face of the Auror Office with the most amount of Death Eater arrests on record in the last week alone and the Prophet was never shy to publish his face on the front cover, perhaps to hide all the things the Ministry was doing wrong. But the gut wrenching news was there.

A portkey to Paris was hijacked whilst transporting twenty people — a mix of half-bloods and muggle-borns — and the Ministry has yet to find them. A family of five was killed the night before Ministry officials were to put protective charms around their home. The restriction on Potion ingredients meant that even the simplest of potions were almost as expensive as wands and St Mungo's was running out of supply. As the wizarding world was told to hide, shops shut down in wizarding London, boarded up and their owners retreating out of London where it was safer.

So Remus let her go without a fight and instead sat down opposite Sirius and Peter by the fireplace and declared, "I'm worried about Lily."

"Why?"

"She hasn't started studying for NEWTs." To put it lightly.

"It is five months away," Sirius drawled a hint of teasing on his voice.

"Lily always starts light revision for exams after Christmas break but we've been back a week and I haven't seen her in the library once," Remus sighed, "I don't think she's even doing her assignments." Or her homework.

"Why do you know so much about Lily's study schedule?" Peter wrinkled his nose.

"Because we usually study together."

"It's official," Sirius announced, "James has corrupted Lily."

"I don't think he's corrupted her … I think she's just letting her worry of James eclipse everything else." Among other things like an existential crisis.

"All right so tell her you want to start studying," Peter suggested.

"I did," Remus frowned, "She brushed me off."

"Ask her a question," Sirius suggested, "After you ask her a question she'll get caught up trying to explain it quickly and next thing you know you've been in the library for three hours with an essay draft and five books around you and flashcards because ' _you're learning about it now, you may as well start your study notes so you don't have to do it later_ '," Sirius mocked before saying, "Pft! Like I study."

"You do," Remus and Peter said together and Remus continued, "You just don't let anyone see you to keep up your 'I'm too cool' image."

"Much more mysterious when you get top marks without seeming to have put in the work," Peter agreed.

"Keep it quiet then," Sirius hissed.

"Too late," Ella plonked down in between Peter and Sirius who sat a bit straighter. "I now know you study and all the mystery has been terribly ruined," she said dramatically, batting her eyelashes and putting a hand on her forehead to act as though she were terribly distressed.

"True comedian, this one," Sirius said dryly but Remus and Peter were both stifling laughter.

"What were you babies arguing about anyhow?"

"We were discussing Lily."

"Yes, she's become very absentee in the absence of James, hasn't she?" Ella asked. "Locks herself in the dorm, goes for long walks, stares out the window hoping to see an owl."

"You guys worried about her?" Sirius asked, creasing his forehead slightly. He did find it odd the other day when Lily asked help for Charms. It was Lily and it was Charms. She never asked help for Charms and she never left her homework to the day it was meant to be turned in.

"Mostly Marlene. She likes to worry herself with other people's business especially when she's avoiding her own."

"Oi! I heard that!" Marlene shouted from the table behind the couches they were sat at.

"You know what I should be hearing?" Ella asked the girl. "You and Nate sorting out your shit and yet here I am, with these loons discussing Lily and your inability to talk about the things that actually matter with the people who matter."

"I told you," Marlene defended herself.

"I don't matter."

"I'd like to disagree with that," Sirius interjected.

"See?" Marlene poked her tongue out, "Thank you, Black."

"Well, of course I matter," Ella said impatiently, "I meant, I don't matter in the scheme of yours and Nate's relationship as in don't tell me how you feel about the fifth year with the dreadful voice who tried to kiss Nate, tell Nate!"

"Not bad advice, Dearborn."

"Thank you, Black."

"But I'll sound so whiny and - and - and so _me_."

"So?" Peter asked.

Marlene sighed heavily before getting up and plonking herself next to Remus. "So she called me neurotic and a nag and I don't want to be that person."

"But that's who you are," Ella said exasperated. "It's not a bad thing and Nate has lived next to you since you were both shitting in nappies so not only does he know, he doesn't care."

"What if I don't want to be that person anymore? What if I don't want to be a nag and neurotic?"

"You can take a trip to Asia and become zen," Sirius suggested. "I once suggested that to my mother."

Ella snorted, "I'm guessing that didn't go well but Marls, until you can go to Asia and be zen … you are who you are. Some people aren't going to like it but screw them and screw Mia fucking Scott. Either go talk to Nate or decide to let the entire thing go."

"Ella's right, you know," Peter said to Marlene. "You shouldn't worry over something so minuscule."

"It's not minuscule!" Marlene protested and then nudged Remus, "Right?"

Pulling himself out of his thoughts because he had not been paying attention, he said, "Hmm?"

"You're not even listening," Marlene huffed.

"Has Lily been doing her school work in her dorm maybe?"

Everyone groaned when Marlene threw herself into a 'help Lily study' plan that turned out rather inconclusive.

* * *

She was ready to start the day fresh. Yesterday had been about avoiding. Today would be about moving on. Hours of tossing and turning in her bed had led her to conclude that though she was completely terrified of being in love she would power through it because she was a Gryffindor and that meant brave and brave meant facing your fears so that's what she was going to do. She was going to be so in love even though she was scared everything would fall apart and they'd end up hating each other so much they wouldn't be able to be around each other and that'd be a colossal tragedy.

But she'd decided. No more fear, only love and she could love Nate McKinnon. She'd done it from the moment she was born. She'd done it when they were two and she let him have her favourite stuffed toy because he'd accidentally vanished his. She'd done it when they were eight and they promised they'd marry each other because everyone else was gross. She'd done it when they were eleven and she stayed up with him all night studying because he'd forgotten about McGonagall's midterm exam. She'd done it so many times before and she could keep doing it.

She walked into the Great Hall and stopped short. Fear banging on her front door. Mia Scott was sat at the Gryffindor table next to Nate.

Marlene was frozen, the fear was no longer knocking — it had bashed in the door and hit her with a paralysing charm. He would leave her for Mia, some little voice rationalised in her mind. Mia was younger, petite and she had that smart look about her. Brunette with amber eyes. Mia was Belle and Marlene was Cinderella.

"Marls?"

Marlene flinched as Ella thread her arm through Marlene's. "What are you doing?"

"Nate's sitting with Mia," she said hopelessly.

Ella raised an eyebrow and without any explanation or declaration of a plan, marched, dragging Marlene with her to the Gryffindor table and until they stood directly opposite Mia and Nate.

Marlene was frozen as Nate didn't even look up. Ella dragged Marlene down into the seat impatiently.

"Hello, McKinnon," Ella announced their presence and then looking at Mia, "Tart."

"She's joking," Nate covered.

"She wasn't," Marlene muttered, as she avoided Nate's eyes and piled an absurd amount of food onto her plate knowing she wouldn't eat a bite of it.

"What was that?" Mia asked.

"Nothing," Marlene said, not meeting anyone's eyes but she could feel his eyes on her.

But the fear made her forget her well theorised plan made at approximately three thirty a.m. Fear didn't care that she was probably making this worse. Fear just cared that this hurt. Fear was scared of feeling this. Fear hated this insecurity that bubbled up in her and yet fed it like fuel to a flame.

"I — Lily seemed down this morning," Marlene let the fear take over, "I'm going to take her some breakfast."

"Marlene," Nate called but she was already up and gone and Sirius Black had taken her seat.

* * *

"Where's Marls off to?" Sirius asked slipping in the seat next to Ella.

"She's having some internal battle about being in a relationship," Ella supplied.

"See, Natie? She doesn't even know if she wants to be with you," Mia almost purred in what was, quite frankly, a pathetic attempt for a bloke's attention in Sirius' opinion.

"She's part of the problem," Ella spelled out.

Nate stood up, bumping the table. "Leave me alone, Mia." He stepped out of the bench, running down the hall, "Marlene! _Marlene_!"

Sirius and Ella stared at Mia who was frowning.

"How long before she realises we don't want to sit with her?" Ella asked.

"Definitely before she realises she's a slag," Sirius remarked.

Mia huffed, standing up and shaking the table. "It's not like they're married."

"I'm going to give you some advice, Scott," Sirius said, "Leave McKinnon and Adams alone because you won't win. You're not half as pretty as Adams and anyone with brains can see she's ten times smarter than you but not only that … I heard a rumour that McKinnon used to say Adams name in his sleep whilst he was still with you. So not only won't you win but you lost a very long time ago. Now run along to your table and pretend to have a brain."

With an indignant look, Mia fled from the Gryffindor table.

"I think you made her cry," Ella commented as they watched Mia fly out the large doors.

"It's a talent. Have you cracked your brother yet?"

Ella shook her head. "Harder to crack than a Gringott's vault," she muttered. "How's James?"

"Still no movement in his legs but he can feel so that's something. Remus thinks Lily's education is goung to burst into flames if James doesn't get better any time soon."

Ella didn't doubt Remus' assessment no matter how dramatic it sounded. "Maybe we should do something to cheer her up? You know like a 'it sucks your boyfriend can't walk but we're here for you' party."

"She doesn't need to party," Remus chimed. "She needs to start focusing on her studies."

"A party in the library!" Sirius remarked.

"Absolutely not," Remus disagreed.

"How would you even pull that off?" Ella wondered.

"Don't question our skills, Dearborn and Remus, think of the glory that party would give us."

"We'd need James for something like that," Peter commented.

"Oh, is James like the backbone of all your great ideas?" Ella asked.

"No," Sirius said the same time Remus and Peter said, "Yes."

"James is the strategist," Peter continued. "We should do that for Lily's birthday."

"But we still need something to get her back into focus," Remus pointed out.

"Maybe we should get her insanely drunk until all her guards are down and just ask her what's wrong," Peter suggested.

"Good thought but Lily talks nonsense when she's drunk," Ella shot the idea down. "I think we just need something simple like a study group. We can meet up once a week and if everyone is in it she'll feel obligated and therefore forced to start taking her school work more seriously."

"Boring," Sirius yawned.

"Tuesday nights?" Remus suggested.

"I'll check with the girls but yeah," Ella agreed. "Common room?"

"Oh come on," Sirius complained, "If we're doing something as lame as a study group can't we at least have a cool place to do it?"

"What'd you have in mind?" Peter asked.

He considered. "Give me 'til Tuesday."

* * *

Lily was running late to her own class when she found Mia Scott in a deserted hallway just after the first period bell. It wouldn't be good if she was late though. Her friends had started some stupid study group and Lily wasn't fooled. She knew it was because they were worried about her. She'd been zoning out in class, leaving homework and assignments to the night before. Even Professor Slughorn commented in her slip in marks.

"Mia?" Lily asked, despite telling herself she should just tell her to get to class. Mia's eyes were red and puffy. "You okay?"

She sniffed. "I'm fine."

Lily sat down next to the girl. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Leave me alone."

"Is this about Nate McKinnon?" Lily asked boldly. She'd heard about the events of New Year's Eve and had contributed in trying to assuage Marlene's fears about the dreaded kiss.

"None of your business," Mia sniffed.

"I suppose it isn't but I am Head Girl and I do have a duty to everyone to make sure everything's okay." Lily checked her watch. "So I'm just going to sit here until you tell me."

"You don't have to be nice to me," Mia snapped.

But she did. Lily did. She remembered when Mia stopped by the Hospital Wing after she'd been attacked and they'd gone through the same thing. How could Lily's heart not go out to her?

"Would you rather I give you a detention instead?"

Mia was quiet. "I — it's not about Nate, I mean it is but not really. I just I had one good thing and I let it go and now with all of this going on some of my friends — they're all pureblood and well, their parents don't want them hanging around a muggleborn … dangerous times and all," she finished off gloomily.

Lily chewed her lip wondering if there was more and she wanted to ask but she didn't want to push too hard, too soon. Lily let the words sit in her mind for a moment before saying, "I can be your friend."

"Adams hates me."

"True," Lily said, "But I'm not Marlene. Just," Lily pulled a face, "Stop trying to win Nate over. Anyone with eyes knows they're going to end up married with three kids in a pretty house somewhere."

"I know, I lost a long time ago, right?" Mia asked. "That's what Black and Dearborn told me."

"Now let's get to class before," Lily checked her watch again, "Nevermind, we're late. Get to class. Merlin, Remus is going to kill me!" Lily grabbed her bag off the floor and started sprinting down the hall calling out, "Get to class!" one last time before she rounded the corner.

* * *

After chasing after her up the Grand Staircase, he caught Marlene around the wrist and spun her around but she pushed him away. "Stop," she demanded.

"Stop what? Marlene, what's going on? It can't just be about Mia." She hated that he could see further than her exterior insecurities.

"I," she could tell him but he'd just accuse her of being silly and over cautious. He'd tell her there was nothing to worry about but that wasn't true at all. Look at James and Lily — she moped around the place waiting until classes finished. So she let the fear egg her on. "I think it's best if we stop."

"Stop?"

"Br — break-up. I think we should break up," the sentence came out disjointed but it was out there now and she couldn't take it back.

"No," Nate denied.

"No?" Marlene repeated. "You can't just refuse a break-up!"

"I can and I am."

"That's not how this works!"

"You don't just get to decide that we're over because you're scared. You don't get to leave me because you think I'll leave you. Marls, I love you, I always have and I know this is a different kind of love and it's okay to be scared but don't run."

Her heart swelled as he saw her even when she tried to hide.

"But what if something happens?" she asked like a child.

"Then it's best we spend the time we have together wisely." He stepped closer to her. "Marlene, I'm not going to lie to you and pretend that everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows but," he struggled with his words, pulled away and started pacing in front of her trying to pull together what he wanted to say. He stopped in front of her and kissed her roughly. "I don't care if you nag and you're neurotic. I don't care if you over think things and love parties a little too much. I don't care that you get tipsy after two drinks. I don't care that you repeat yourself a hundred times when you're angry or excited. I don't care because I love all those things about you and no matter what happens I want to spend all my time with you. So no, we're not breaking up."

Marlene groaned and leaned her head on his chest. "God, you're so frustrating when you talk like that."

Nate raised an eyebrow, "The good kind I hope."

She kissed him, "The very best kind," she assured him. "I was overwhelmed."

"By the attack or Mia?"

She sighed, "Both. Seeing Mia kiss you, god," she whispered, "It made me realise how much it would hurt to lose you and I know you'd never intentionally hurt me but then the attack and some things just aren't in our control and lord it would hurt ten times worse if you were to die or be hurt and I didn't want to be hurt but I love you and-"

He shut her up with his lips on hers, "There's the Marly I know and love,". He cupped her face with his hand as his other arm snagged around her waist to pull her closer and his lips moved against hers, their mouths dancing with each other, sucking and biting and teasing.

* * *

Sirius walked into McGonagall's office confidently after he knocked. Used to the stern office, he sat himself at the chair on the other side of her desk without her having said as much as, "Good morning, Mr Black."

"Morning, Professor," Sirius replied cheerily.

"Have you put any thought into what you want to do after Hogwarts?"

"Auror," Sirius said confidently.

"Do you have a back-up plan?" McGonagall asked.

"A back-up?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "No. Won't need one."

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "Mr Black, I do not doubt your capabilities, in fact I think you're a rather extraordinary student when you put your mind to it, however, as much as it isn't fair," she stopped.

"Say it," Sirius said lowly.

"The Auror Office will not accept anyone with your last name into their program. Your family has very publicly announced their loyalties to the Dark Arts."

"But I don't even live with my family! My mother's blasted me off that god damned tapestry!"

McGonagall gave him a pitying look. "I understand, I truly do but the Auror Office, they won't accept you and as Career Guidance I must prepare you for that outcome. Now, is there anything else you would like to do?"

Sirius shook his head.

"There must be something!" she fiddled through some papers. "How about a curse breaker?"

Sirius shook his head.

"You're doing well in Potions, how about a potion brewer?"

He shook his head.

"A healer?"

He wrinkled his face and shook his head again.

"Wand maker?"

He shook his head.

"Journalist?"

He shook his head again.

The Professor looked at him kindly. "How about we reschedule for next week? In the mean time, take these, have a read through."

She handed him a pile of pamphlets and Sirius left without a word.

* * *

Lily woke up at a quarter to seven and swore. That stupid study group thing started in fifteen minutes and Remus would be having all kinds of concerned looks and questions if she didn't show. She rolled out of her comfy bed, tangling herself in her curtains and slipped her shoes on before grabbing her book back and cloak.

She ran all the way to the seventh floor where Sirius had instructed everyone meet and they were all there waiting for her and Lily plastered on a smile.

"Ready?"

"Where were you?" Adaline frowned. "You missed dinner."

"Oh, I had something to eat really early," Lily lied.

Sirius walked across a stretch of the hall three times and a door appeared, turning the attention away from Lily's absence and onto the room at hand.

The room that Sirius had found was a place that only appeared when needed and because Sirius Black was the one to find it, their study room ended up having large windows that overlooked the grounds with bean bags and floor cushions spread around in a circle.

"Pretty great, aye?" Sirius grinned as everyone filed in. "And only we know it's here."

"How did you know it was here?" Ella asked, sinking into a beanbag.

"I have my ways."

Everyone settled down onto a bean bag or floor cushion and Lily emptied her bag's contents onto the floor, a bruised apple rolling out and Sirius wrinkled his nose. "Say, Evans, that wouldn't be the apple I gave you for breakfast last Friday?"

Lily hummed. "It's possible."

"Lily," Sirius scolded. "Did you even eat anything for dinner?"

"What are you my mother?" Lily scowled and Sirius scowled right back.

"Well, did you?"

So they sat, scowling at each other, until Remus broke the silence. "So everyone agree we should start with Charms?"

"Oh wait, didn't you two do Charms last night?" Adaline asked Marlene and Nate.

The two glanced at each other, smirking. "Yeah, that didn't exactly go well."

"We got sidetracked," Nate added.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I found them in a broom closet on the fourth floor."

"Lily! You swore to secrecy!"

"Relax Adams," Sirius said, "Everyone knows you two go at it like bunnies. You may even be worse than James and Lily at that New Year's party…"

"Wait, what?" Nate asked as Lily's cheeks flushed.

"Nothing," Lily muttered.

"You mean you didn't know?" Sirius wheezed.

"Black," Lily warned.

"Downsta-"

Before he could finish his sentence whoever, he suddenly lost the ability to talk.

"Now," Lily said, "I thought this was some lame attempt to get me to study." The others glanced at each other sheepishly. "So Charms," Lily continued, "What's everyone up to? Because I've still got to do that assignment due tomorrow."

Remus balked. "Lily, that assignment took me three days to finish!"

"More like a week," Ella mumbled.

"It's okay," Marlene insisted, "It's why we're here right? Now that charms assignment was to make a charm of your own creation."

"You guys don't have to help me," Lily insisted. "I'm better at charms than all of you combined. I'll be-" A balled up parchment hit her face. Lily looked at Sirius who looked quite impatient. "What?"

He pointed at his throat and she shrugged. "You think you're so great, reverse it yourself."

The others laughed at Sirius' exasperated expression as Lily settled in forming a charm that would allow a teapot to turn different shades of red and blue depending on the temperature.

Marlene and Nate were the first to slink off, packing up their things at around nine — they weren't fooling anybody though. Ella and Adaline left next about a half hour later and then Remus and Peter until it was just Sirius and Lily.

"James wrote me today," Lily said, midway through writing the corresponding essay to her charm. The charm itself wasn't her best work but it was passable. If she hadn't been so demotivated lately, she'd have come up with something more creative.

"And?"

"The potion isn't working as quickly as they'd hoped. He won't be back next week."

"He's getting better, Lil. You need to snap out of whatever this is," Sirius told her. "It's not-"

"It's not what?" Lily bit.

"Like you," Sirius said. "At first I thought Remus was overreacting but you hardly eat, I mean honestly Lils do your robes even fit you properly? And come on, a temperature reading charm? I mean it's a neat spell but it's beneath you. Has anything you've handed in the last week been graded over an A?"

If Lily hadn't been in the middle of an existential crisis, she'd have been ashamed but she wasn't and she let her anger win over.

"What difference does it make?" Lily asked. "I'll be surprised if I'm still alive in five years."

Sirius was stunned into silence.

"What? No suave reply to that?" she asked coyly.

"You're not going to die," Sirius said stubbornly.

Lily laughed. "And what makes me so special? This is war, Sirius."

"So what? That's it, you've decided you're going to be dead sometime in the next five years and school doesn't matter?"

"Something like that, yeah," she agreed.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Tough."

* * *

It was that moment that Sirius formed a plan. He was rather good at forming plans that drove people up the wall and he was planning to drive Lily into a will to live again. Not only was he going to do that but he was going to do it before James got back to Hogwarts which gave him a rather uncertain timeline but Sirius was ambitious so he was just going to give himself a week. Seven days to spark Lily Evans into the fire she was born to be.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone! Here's chapter 22! Hope you enjoy ...

Shout out to TrueHomiePiP for her review last chapter :)

Please fav, follow or/and review if you liked this chapter!

Thank you for reading!

-Natalie x


	24. Chapter 23: Here Without You

It was just Emmeline and Alice at Hogsmeade. To save Alice the long trip on the train, Emmeline offered to apparate her to Hogsmeade where a carriage was waiting. Alice had said goodbye to their father at home. He'd given her a hug and told her he loved her though Alice could tell he was in a daze — he had been ever since his wife died.

Alice watched with sparked curiosity as her sister petted thin air and then a different feeling took over. Something that was dark and gut wrenching. How many times had Emmeline seen someone die?

Alice had no illusions about how the carriages 'rode themselves'. Threstrals pulled them along and the only way to see a threstral was if you saw someone die.

The question at the front of her brain seemed to die on the way down to her mouth and instead Alice said, "Promise me you'll be safe," because it didn't matter how many times Emmeline had seen someone die as long as she was still alive. Maybe that made her a terrible person but Alice didn't care because at the very least it made her a good sister.

"It's not an easy world to be safe in," Emmeline mused. "Just promise me _you'll_ be safe. No more sneaking out to see Frank."

The things Emmeline knew never failed to amaze Alice. "I'll promise if you promise."

Emmeline smiled sadly and said, "Just be cautious." She pulled her younger sister into a tight hug.

"Back at you," Alice returned the sentiment and the hug just as fiercely. "Look after dad," Alice whispered before she let go.

"I will," Emmeline smiled shakily, pulling out of the hug, "You should get up to school. If you change your mind about Easter holidays you can always come home."

"I know," Alice said, pulling her bag off the floor and opening the carriage door, "But I won't."

The ride up to the castle was a mixture of too long and not long enough. It was too long trapped in her thoughts of worries and concerns but not long enough to compose herself for when she finally had to step out of the carriage.

They were waiting for her. Adaline, Marlene, Ella, Lily and the boys. The girls didn't surprise her so much, she'd expected them but Sirius, Peter, Remus and Nate did.

"Welcome back," Marlene exclaimed, cheer trying and failing to reach her voice but it didn't really matter. Alice understood that no one knew what to say to the girl who's mum died. There wasn't much time for words anyways when a moment later the girls all converged on her in a sweet group hug that Alice could never admit she needed.

* * *

Sirius nudged Peter to scarper as they saw Lily's dot approaching the common room on the map. Peter quickly folded up the map, making the words disappear with a tap of his wand and just as quickly, scarpered up the stairs to the boys dormitory, tripping on his laces at the fourth step.

Sirius waited at his rather lonely looking table that stared out a window as Remus did homework with Marlene and Adaline two tables away. He picked at a spare bit of parchment, tossing balls at the window seal, trying to get them in the crack between the window and the seal.

"What're you so glum about?" Lily pulled a face, plonking into the seat opposite him.

"McGonagall said that the Auror program won't accept me because of my family."

"Didn't know you wanted to be an Auror."

"It's the only way to fight, isn't it?" Sirius asked before sighing.

Lily frowned though. "But surely they can't discriminate against you because of your family."

"Lily, my family's loyalty to the Dark Arts, whilst not officially declared is well known. Any self respecting family won't come within a mile of a Black simply because we're Blacks." Sirius threw another ball of parchment. "The Blacks social circle is that of the Lestranges, the Malfoys, the Carrows, the Bulstrodes, the Flints, the Yaxleys — the Slytherins," Sirius hissed. "Nothing pure ever came out of that house." His eyes went dark for a moment and Lily thought she saw a glimpse of the man Sirius could have become if he'd followed the path laid out by his family for him.

"You're not in Slytherin," Lily reminded him softly, placing her hand over his. "And screw them. You'd rather date Moaning Myrtle than meddle with the Dark Arts."

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Sirius sighed. "We'll all be dead in five years anyhow." With that, he stood abruptly and walked away passing a confused Remus who'd heard the entire conversation and went up to the boys dormitory.

Remus followed, questioning him as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Lily's having an existential crisis," Sirius informed him, "And I'm snapping her out of it. You know, you could help since you're so concerned."

"Oh, how's that?"

"Fail an assignment and when she asks you about it say, 'doesn't matter, we'll all be dead in five years'."

"I fail to see how that is effective."

"Just throwing her own logic back in her face and hoping that she cares more about our futures than hers. I've already failed a Transfiguration assignment." Sirius fell onto his bed, leaning on his elbows to prop him up.

Remus furrowed his brows. "Which one?"

"The one we handed in today."

"But you handed something in."

"An essay," Sirius informed him, "Discussing the pros and cons of being able to walk. I'd've sent it to James if he didn't seem as self destructive as Lily at the moment."

"Please don't tell me you're in on this Peter?"

"I haven't eaten since breakfast," Peter admitted.

"You're starving him!" Remus accused outraged.

"No, he's not eating from the stress of his imminent and unstoppable death. So are you gonna fail an assignment or you could get belligerently drunk every day and say its about the stress of your imminent and unstoppable death. Oh! You could even throw in the incurability of your wolfish ways!" Sirius clicked his fingers, "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"

"Because it's moronic, not to mention manipulative."

"Genius not to mention reverse psychology," Sirius corrected.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Peter, there's chocolate under the bed if you want some. Sirius, just have a proper conversation with her, yeah?"

Despite Remus' lack of faith, Sirius rather thought day one of his plan to knock sense into Lily was going rather well.

* * *

Lily waved at Mia as Lily and Alice passed Mia in the corridor and asked, "Do you want to join me for breakfast?"

"I-" Mia started, staring uncertainly at Alice who had raised an eyebrow at Lily. "Er, n-no. No, thank you."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked and Alice nudged her with a grimace and pointed look. A few odd students glanced at the awkward encounter before slowly moving on, trying to catch as much of the conversation without making it obvious that they were eavesdropping.

"I'm fine, thanks, Lily." Mia scarpered off and Lily frowned at Alice.

"That wasn't very nice,"

"I thought we were to scorn at the sight of Mia Scott until the end of eternity?"

Lily winced. "Yes, well, Marlene's always been a little, er, dramatic and Mia and I are friends … sort of."

"Friends? Since when?"

"I must admit it's a rather new development."

"I feel like I took a year off school, not a week."

Lily laughed and patted Alice's shoulder. "You haven't missed that much."

"Oh please, Ella and Sirius."

Lily frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Seriously? They're like always together!" They sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Peter, Remus and Sirius with Ella and Adaline sitting opposite them and started piling their plates with food.

"I — they're friends," Lily shrugged. The real truth was, Lily hadn't noticed it. In fact, she was finding Sirius rather annoying. It started yesterday when he was telling her about how he wouldn't be accepted into the Auror Office because of his family and he just brushed it off saying he was going to be dead in five years anyways.

She wasn't stupid. She knew what he was doing and it wasn't going to work. She doubted McGonagall even said that about Sirius' prospects of becoming an Auror. It was more likely something Sirius said to try and get Lily to go back to normal. A prank. Well, Lily would not be pranked into being happy. She was miserable and she would like to stay that way until she felt like the world wasn't going to crush the life out of her, thank you very much.

"Who are friends?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of food.

"No one," Alice and Lily said at the same time.

"So, I've heard a rumour that you're _friends_ with Mia Slut," Marlene accused sitting in the seat next to Lily's at breakfast. Lily glanced over at Alice who shrugged. How did gossip travel so fast?

"Not exactly a rumour," Lily corrected. "And I know that you're not particularly fond of her-"

"If hating her little fifth year guts is not particularly fond of her than yes!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, she needs a friend right now."

"Great. Why does it have to be you?" Marlene asked.

"Another portkey to France has been intercepted. Fifteen people missing."

"Fifteen?" Peter asked. "That's a lot. Are you going to eat that?" Peter pointed to the bacon Lily had placed on her plate and she shook her head. Peter took it gratefully as Marlene continued to scowl at Lily.

"Because I offered."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "What if I said I don't want you to be?"

"Marly," Lily sighed, exasperated.

"Lily, she tried to kiss Nate!"

Lily placed a hand on Marlene's. "I know but she's given up on that and let's face it, she never really had a chance in the first place."

"Given up on that?" Marlene echoed. "Do you hear yourself?"

"Marlene, please. You don't have to interact with her but just let me do this."

"Lily, seriously?"

"Yes."

Marlene gave her one last incredulous look before standing up and storming out of the Great Hall, snagging Nate who was coming in at the time and redirecting him back out of the Great Hall with her.

Lily sighed. "She's always got to make things difficult."

"I mean, Scott is a slag and you don't owe her anything so why?" Ella asked with a quirked eyebrow. Lowering her eyebrow, Ella answered her own question, "You've a soft spot for her because she was attacked by Brown, like you were."

"So what if I do?"

"Nothing — makes sense even."

They fell into silence after that until Lily, sick of the silence asked, "So another fifteen people missing?"

"Yeah, last night's seven o'clock portkey. No one realised until eleven o'clock last night."

"Do you think they're dead?"

"Most likely," Ella frowned. "In other news, Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black are getting married in August."

"I thought Alice said they got engaged at Christmas," Lily frowned. It seemed awfully fast.

"They did," Alice agreed. "But pureblood engagements aren't very long."

"Oh," was Lily's only reply. "We better get to class." Lily stood and at the rumble of her stomach looked down at the full plate she hadn't eaten. She shrugged to herself and stepped out of the bench, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. There'd always be lunch.

* * *

Sirius and Peter hijacked Marlene and Ella's seats next to Lily in Transfiguration and Lily was rightly annoyed with him, of course, this just fuelled Sirius' intentions of being as infuriating as possible and he wasted no time getting started.

"Can't you lot find somewhere else to sit?"

"Nope. Might die in five years," Sirius said casually, "Gotta spend all the time I can with you."

"Clock is ticking," Peter agreed.

Lily clicked her tongue as Sirius rested his head on his hand on her side of the table, invading her personal space. "So, you gonna take out your quill? Some parchment maybe? I'd say the textbook but I don't wanna stretch it."

"What do you want?"

"Why do you always think I'm after something?" Sirius asked, batting his god damned eyelashes in what he thought was an innocent way but really proved to Lily just the opposite. "I mean if you get the quill and parchment out, I'll get the textbook out."

"Piss off, Black."

"Are you really going to make me do all the work?" Sirius pouted. "We're not a very good team if I'm doing all the work."

"Shut up, Sirius."

"How about you just get your quill out?"

"Sirius," Lily snapped exasperated, "Will you shut up?"

"Only if you get your stuff out."

"Peter," she turned to her left where Peter was seated, "Swap seats with me? Please!"

"No can do, Lils."

Lily glared at him before rolling her eyes and with a wave of her wand, her quill, ink pot, parchment and textbook flew out of her bag and arranged themselves in a pile on her desk.

"Happy?"

"Ecstatic." A few moments of peace passed them by and then, "You know, you should probably start writing down what McGonagall's saying, you know since you didn't do the chapter reading and all."

"You didn't do the chapter reading either," Lily hissed.

"Yes, but as an accomplished animagus, I think I'm pretty familiar with the process of becoming one already, wouldn't you agree, Wormtail?"

"We studied that for two years," Peter agreed.

Lily scowled and Sirius asked, "So are you going to start writing something down?" tapping at her parchment.

"She is literally talking about last weeks assignment."

"Oh, so you're listening?" Sirius said gleefully. "That's good. I was just testing you."

"Lord, Sirius give me strength. I am going to murder you!"

"I'm not a Lord. Just plan old Sirius."

He laughed as she breathed in deeply, clenching her fists.

"Something wrong, Lily?" Peter asked. "You're seem a little … stressed."

"Not at all," she replied in a false sweet voice. "Just, if you two don't bloody well shut up in the next five seconds you'll be visiting James in St Mungo's!"

Professor McGonagall was walking through the aisles of tables, placing last weeks assignment on everyone's desk. It was a small one, only worth five percent and Lily didn't expect to get more than an 'A' on it. She'd only started the essay six hours before it was due after all. Anyways, lately Acceptable was becoming familiar to her.

"Very poor, Mr Black," McGonagall placed Sirius' essay on the table and Lily looked over curiously to see a 'T' sprawled on top in bright red ink. "I expected better. You too, Miss Evans," and she placed Lily's essay. "Though at least you wrote about the specified topic." After a meaningful glance at Sirius, McGonagall moved on.

The bright 'P' stood out. Lily's very first failing mark and she couldn't really find it in herself to care.

"At least we're failing together," Sirius grinned.

"Seriously, Sirius? A 'T'."

"Seriously, Evans? A 'P'. Besides, what's one 'T' going to matter when we could all be dead tomorrow. Really, I was reading about the muggle war the one with those weapons, the big ones that could wipe out whole cities-"

"Nuclear," Lily provided and Sirius clicked his fingers.

"That's the one! Anyway I was reading about them and you know, if Voldemort gets a whiff of them he might just decide to drop one on Hogwarts and do us all a favour."

"Har har. What'd you write about anyways?"

Sirius snatched it away before Lily could grab it and said, "The benefits of being a troll. Number one of course being that they don't have to write transfiguration essays."

"Sirius!" Lily scolded.

"What? It's just some stupid essay. It's not like it matters what NEWTs I get. No one will want to hire me."

"But it's, it's," Lily struggled for a minute. "It's NEWTs!"

"So? We're all going to die soon anyways, right Miss Poor?"

Lily scowled. "Fine be like that and by the way, I didn't say all of us. I just said me."

"And what makes you so special? I reckon I've a bigger target on my back."

"Muggle-born," she pointed to herself.

"Blood-traitor."

"Dating a pure-blood."

"Disowned from family."

"Muggle family."

"Cousin and brother from said family have or will join Death Eater ranks."

"Ginger," Lily countered without thinking and Sirius snickered.

"Ah yes, Voldemort has started a war against gingers. Somebody warn the Weasleys!"

Lily bit her lips to stop laughing as Professor McGonagall eyed them sternly and said, "Evans, Black! Perhaps if you paid more attention you would have received passing marks!"

Lily apologised quickly but the laughter still threatened to pour out as Sirius used his hand to cover his own bit down grin. Eventually though, Sirius nudged Remus because Lily had picked up a quill and was writing notes.

It seemed Sirius plan was working.

A parchment was shoved in front of him.

 _They'll kill me. They'll keep you alive and like, torture you or something._

Okay so she wasn't exactly writing Transfiguration notes.

Sirius scribbled back.

 _I think I'd rather die than be tortured thanks._

 _What would the world be without Sirius Black?_

 _Helpless, surely. If you were to die I think we'd throw a party._

 _Thanks._

 _Well, you seem so adamant on dying, the world doesn't have time for people who don't want to be in it._

 _Bugger off._

 _Only if you write notes for me to copy later._

 _Fine._

Ah, there was the progress he was looking for.

* * *

Alice watched as Ella caught up to a bickering Lily and Sirius after class. Sirius smiled at her and high fived Ella no doubt for her Exceeds Expectations mark on the latest assignment and Alice nudged Marlene. "Since when was that a thing?" Alice nodded her head over to where Sirius and Ella had fallen behind Lily, Remus and Peter and were talking and laughing with each other.

"Hmm?"

"Ella and Sirius," Alice spelled out. "Since when have they been a thing?"

"They're not," Marlene said confused. "Why would you think that they're a thing?"

"Oh, well when Sirius isn't with Peter or Remus, he's with Ella." She frowned. "You seriously didn't notice?"

Marlene shook her head. "Black is just helping her with a thing."

"What thing?"

Marlene shrugged. "A thing. I had my career guidance meeting with McGonagall."

"And?"

Marlene grinned. "She's going to have St Mungo's owl me a healer training application. She said that I'd be a great healer."

"That's wonderful, Marls!"

"Did you know it takes six years of training before you're a full healer?"

"No," Alice said surprised, "I didn't."

"First two years is classes and then for two years we shadow different healers before choosing a specialty in our fifth year."

"And I thought Auror training was long. You should ask if they have a fast tracked program. It'll be more work, less holidays but if you finish a year or two earlier, it's worth it."

"Well, from what McGonagall said, during the first two years, I can still volunteer at the hospital but it'll be unpaid."

"Unpaid?"

"Yeah, I know," Marlene wrinkled her nose. "But mum and dad won't mind if I don't move out — mum would love it actually. She's been dropping hints since summer ended. Anyways, experience is experience."

"I suppose."

* * *

"Now, Miss Evans, any thoughts on what you would like to do after Hogwarts?"

"A lobbyist."

Lily could tell from Professor McGonagall's expression that she had no idea what a lobbyist was.

"It's a person or group that uses media and public opinion to persuade the Ministry into passing or rejecting legislation."

McGonagall pursed her lips. "A profession like that would require a great social network. Perhaps you should start with a job in the Ministry."

"I'll consider it." She wouldn't.

"You know, Lily," McGonagall started, resting her elbows on the desk. "Whilst you are trying to do something noble for our community, I must say that I feel your talents would be wasted there. Professor Flitwick has expressed many times that you would do great in the charms development sector of the Ministry. Not to mention, Professor Slughorn thinks you could become the next Laverne de Montmorency." McGonagall paused. "I rather thought you would have chosen something in those fields."

Lily rather thought McGonagall had finished and had opened her mouth to say something pacifying but McGonagall cut across her.

"What's even more astounding is that in the last two weeks you've received more A's and P's in your entire career at Hogwarts. If you want to receive high NEWTs you cannot continue down that path."

"Yes, of course," Lily said automatically. "I've just, er, been distracted lately."

"I understand how the circumstances of Mr Potter being at St Mungo's can be distracting with the nature of your relationship. However, Miss Evans, worse things have happened and it's time to get your head out of the clouds. You need to focus on what is important right now and that is your future."

 _If I have one_ , Lily thought bitterly. "Yes, of course, Professor."

"All right, off you go."

Lily left the office gladly. She hated the idea of career guidance. Your teachers putting all of their hopes and dreams on the lives of students who will most likely end up in an average job with an average life.

Seriously? Charms or Potions development? Only the best of the best got into those programs and sure, Lily worked hard, at least she used to, but she wasn't the best of the best.

"How'd the meeting go?" Sirius fell into step with her and she groaned. She needed to get that blasted map off of him. He was bloody everywhere.

"Fantastic," Lily said.

"What'd she say?"

"That I'm doomed to fail in life."

"Damn," Sirius said, "She said the same to me too. But it's not like it really matters. You can just marry James after school, live off his money until you die, which according to you, will be in the near future."

Lily breathed in heavily. "Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"This! Whatever you're doing. It's infuriating!"

"I'm not doing anything."

"Sirius," Lily all but growled. "I have zero patience for this so just stop."

"I will if you pull yourself out of this little depression you've got going on."

"I'm not depressed!" Lily exclaimed.

"Not eating, not thinking about your future, thinking you're going to die soon," Sirius listed off, "I don't know about you but to me that sounds like someone with depression."

"I'm not depressed!" Lily shouted.

"Prove it."

"You want me to prove that I'm not depressed?" Lily asked incredulously. "Sirius, I really don't have time for your antics."

"Busy doing homework?" he asked and Lily glowered at him.

"Leave me alone and stop stalking me on that bloody map!"

Before he could say anything else she escaped into the girls bathroom and left him in the corridor.

She could eat and pull up her marks if she wanted to. She could, she told herself. She just didn't want to. There was a difference. Sirius didn't know what the hell he was on about. She wasn't depressed, she just didn't see the point anymore.

* * *

It was his second lap around the floor. The healers had given him a walker because his legs felt like jelly and they said his legs were weak from the inactivity. He hated that every step made him sweat. He hated that it had taken him a half hour to do a lap of one floor even if the healers were telling him he was recovering well and faster than they expected. He almost hated it more than not moving at all.

At least not moving at all was relaxing and he could still pretend that he could get up at any second and run the length of the Quidditch pitch. Now, now the healers were telling him he wouldn't be able to run for a while and he hated it.

Of course, the healers telling him that he wouldn't be able to run for at least four weeks gave James a challenge that simplified down to, be able to run a lap of the floor by Lily's birthday. That had given him two weeks and now he was up to day seven.

The first day had been the worst. He'd barely made it to the corner of the corridor before the healer had to levitate him back in because James simply could not get his legs to hold his weight. That's when they brought in the walker. The second day, James walked to the length of his corridor three times with two to three hour breaks between.

By the fifth day he was doing a whole laps of the floor but it was slow and agonising and it frustrated James that something that should only take ten to fifteen minutes took him almost double the time. Not to mention again, that between each lap he did, he rested for at least an hour.

Now, he was on the seventh day and having just finished lap one, was going for lap two. The Healer at the station pursed her lips and asked, "Are you sure you want to do another lap?"

James ignored her and started for lap two. The pain in his legs was manageable and with every step taken, it was one less step to take so James counted each step as a small victory.

He was at the corner of his hall. It was only thirty or so steps to his room, feeling bold, he pushed his walker forward and walked to it without any help. It was painful and slower than three steps should be but it was a victory. Three steps without the blasted walker. So he did it again. And again. And again until he was at his room and James wished Lily were here to see his small victory.

The healer behind the station smiled at him, "Well done, Mr Potter. Now, bed."

"I want to go one more lap," James pleaded.

"You can try again after lunch. Remember what Healer Lane said about over exerting your muscles. You're doing great but lets not push it. You can try again after lunch besides, your parents usually come in around this time."

Defeated, James sighed, "Can I at least try walking to my bed without the walker?"

"Go on, I'll be right next to you in case you want to take the weight off."

"I won't," James said determined.

He pushed the walker away letting it hit the wall and managed the seven steps to his bed before collapsing onto the bed, face first and heaving.

"Rest!" she demanded, helping James move into a more comfortable position.

"Yes, m'am," he saluted with a grin on his face because despite his sweaty body and racing heart, he'd made real progress. He'd done two laps and then without his walker, made it to his bed.

She went to move his legs for him but he shook his head. How were his muscles supposed to regain their strength when the healers wouldn't even let him reposition his legs on the bed?

He closed his eyes with the promise that after lunch he would do another two laps chasing his walker instead of using it to take the weight off.

* * *

Lily was reading the Daily Prophet peacefully at the Gryffindor table, reading an article about the possibility of Aurors being green lighted to use unforgiveables in the line of duty. She had almost finished said article when the unmistakeable laughter of Sirius Black could be heard.

"Marlene," Lily mumbled, pulling the newspaper higher to hide from a certain person.

Marlene leaned over and whispered into Nate's ear, who said, "She's not talking to you."

"Oh come on, Marly! I'm in need!"

Marlene whispered something into Nate's ear who said, "She said 'go ask your new bestie.'"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Nate just pretend we're talking."

"We are," he pointed out.

"Look more engaged. Black's been more annoying than a bloody fly lately."

Nate chuckled and Marlene whispered into his ear. "She said, maybe if you studied he wouldn't be more annoying than a bloody fly."

"Tell Marlene, that I'm not listening to anything she says unless she actually talks to me."

The two girls glared at each other — Marlene with a scowl, Lily with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'well?' Marlene crossed her arms and Lily rolled her eyes.

Nate looked between the two, feeling very put out with the silent conversation the two seemed to be having. Fortunately, Sirius solved the issue by sitting exceptionally close to Lily, swinging an arm around her shoulders and saying, "How're you feeling today, Evans? I don't know about you but today just feels like a day for getting work done."

"No, I don't feel that," Lily said.

"No?"

"Nope. It does, however feel like a day for murder which will happen if you don't take your bloody arm off of me in the next ten seconds."

"Always so quick to threaten. Does James know about this reflex of yours to threaten when someone calls you out on your bullshit?"

"I don't think he'll much care if I tell him you tried to feel me up," Lily grumbled.

"See, I know you're trying to scare me but scaring me by trying to get a man who can't even walk to beat me up or something isn't your smartest move."

"Black," Lily said.

"Yes?"

"Get the hell off me."

"Did you do last night's homework?"

Lily remained silent and then, "Yes."

"Show me."

"What are you, my father?"

"If you did it, I don't see why I can't see it."

"You'll copy."

"Liar, liar," Sirius accused.

"Sod off, Sirius," Lily grumbled. "I'm trying to eat in peace."

"There's literally nothing on your plate."

Lily stood up abruptly, shaking Sirius' arm off of her and stormed out of the Great Hall. She could hear him following her and she groaned. "Oh my god what do I have to do to get you to leave me the hell alone!" she shouted at him, whirling around. People slowed down to stare at the two older students. "What?" she snapped at the side glancers who quickly scarpered at Lily's furious tone. She whirled on Sirius not a moment later. "I get it you want me to study and to eat and be happy but I can't!"

"Why?"

"Because I don't care about any of this anymore! I don't care for it!"

"You don't care for what? Living?" Sirius fired at her. "What, are you just going to roam around like a zombie until something does you in?"

"Who gives a shit!" Lily shouted. "We're all going to die one day! I've almost died twice already who's to say I'm not meant to die and I'm just biding my time?"

"Who's to say you didn't get two second chances because you're meant to live and do great things with your life?" Sirius asked her. "What if you're meant to live and be? What if you're meant to do _something_!"

"Something? What something! The world's gone to shit! There's nothing to do!" Lily shouted.

"I don't know something! What if you're meant to save the world or — or maybe it doesn't have to be the world," Sirius ran his hand over his face. "Maybe you're just supposed to save one person or three or four or maybe you create a charm that builds houses or a potion that cures Dragon Pox! I don't know, Lily but _something_ with a god damned capital 'S'!"

Lily stayed silent and then, "I don't want to have this conversation." She turned to walk away.

"You know I'm right, Lily!"

"Fuck off, Black!"

She didn't know where to go. She couldn't possibly go to class. Not like this, on the verge of tears and so angry her body was shaking not to mention it would give Sirius another chance to have a go at her.

Making a quick decision she headed up the stairs, blindly walking as long as it was up until she was in the highest, deepest crevice of the castle that she was sure she'd never been to before. She sank against the wall and sobbed because he was right, of course Sirius was right.

She should want to live and she'd been given second chances and she should want to do something but she just couldn't find it in her. She couldn't find that will to do _something_. Hell, she couldn't find it in her to make it to the end of the day let alone do something great.

As childish as it sounded she wanted James. She wanted him to hug her and tell her everything was going to be all right and yet at the same time, the thought of him pained her. In a way, he had become a reminder of everything wrong with the world because her James shouldn't be stuck in a stupid hospital bed somewhere. He should be here at school with her and all their friends making study timetables and training every second night for the Quidditch final.

He should be thinking about what he wanted to do when school finished not about whether or not he was going to walk again.

Everything was just so screwed up and it felt like her body was wrapped in a sheet of concrete. She couldn't shake it off the only thing left was to let it crumble.

* * *

 _My dear Ella,_

 _I'm truly sorry for what happened at Christmas and so is your dad. He has not taken this situation lightly and gone as far as to stop drinking. I know that we failed you but please know we love you very, very much and we do hope you'll come home for the Easter holidays so we can make amends properly._

 _With love always, Mum_

Ella rolled her eyes and scrunched the letter up. She would not be joining them for Easter, had her mother completely lost her mind? It seemed she had. _Gone as far as to stop drinking_. Ella wanted to laugh, if anything that was _the least_ he could do.

Evidently, she couldn't help herself and a bewildered laugh escaped her lips.

"I know I'm hilarious but I just sat down," Sirius said, mocking astonishment and Ella rolled her eyes.

"So you spoke to James?" She'd given up on asking him about Lily.

"Yep," he confirmed popping the 'p'.

Ella looked at him expectantly, "Well?" She had also given up on asking him how he spoke to James so quickly — she'd never seen him receive or send of letters so it was a true mystery, perhaps as infuriating as her brother's occupation — but Sirius was tight lipped on the whole thing telling her it was a Marauder secret. Of course, she told him that was the lamest thing she'd ever heard so he threw a grape at her and that had been the end of that conversation as a grape war took place in the middle of the Gryffindor table — one she won.

"He's walking without the walker."

"That's great! Lily must be thrilled!"

"She doesn't know yet. James wants to surprise her on her birthday, he wants to be able to run before he tells her."

"That's still a week away," Ella frowned.

"Yeah, I know but anyway, what were you laughing about?"

Ella pulled a face. "My mother sent a letter."

"What did it say?"

" 'Hi Ella, I'm sorry your dad hit you but at least he's stopped drinking now.'" Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "I know," Ella shook her head and then, "Well it had more sincerity but that was the gist of it. Oh and she wants me to go home for the Easter holidays." Ella snorted, "Right, like I would want to do _that_ after Christmas."

"Screw 'em," Sirius agreed. "Heard anything from Doc?"

Ella frowned, a slight crease in her forehead. She hadn't heard from her brother in a week and it had her worried. What if his lack of letters was due to something connected to the New Years Eve attack. Ella wasn't stupid, she knew her brother wasn't there by accident and she knew he was hiding something. Why else would he have been there with Emmeline? In Ella's mind, her brother and Alice's sister didn't even exist on the same freaking page.

"He's probably just busy with work," Ella shrugged.

"If you're worried," Sirius said, "You should just write him."

Ella scowled, "I'm not."

"Uh huh."

"I'm not!" Ella insisted before changing the subject to Transfiguration homework. He'd been helping her out lately and Ella's marks had improved so much that McGonagall was giving her approving nods now when she handed back Ella's assignments and homework.

Sirius waved her off. "I did that the night she assigned it. It was a piece of cake."

"Oh sure, if a three foot essay on how to become an animagus is a piece of cake," Ella muttered.

Sirius laughed, "I'll help you," he promised, "Just start."

It was odd how suddenly things had changed between Sirius and Ella but she also couldn't find it in her to care. He gave her something that perhaps no one else could, or maybe they could and Ella just secretly liked the fact that it was Sirius.

He didn't treat her like she was delicate. He didn't coddle her or tell her what she should do. He just listened, something Marlene, Merlin love her, had never been able to do. To get Marlene to _just_ listen, you'd have to put her under a silencing charm and even then she'd pick up a quill and start writing what she wanted to say so you'd probably have to put a body-binding spell on her too.

Sirius, though, he wasn't scared to ask, wasn't scared to hear the answer and that meant more to her than anything because Marlene asked but Ella couldn't really tell her what was going on because it was so obvious — she was scared to hear the answer. She didn't know how to react and what to say and it was just all around awkward. Sirius was blunt and unafraid and she liked it and somewhere along the line she realised she liked him.

Not just his inability to be unafraid and his bluntness but his humour and that he would help his best friend's girl study even though he hated studying. She liked how he listened and how he threw his head back when he laughed. She liked his wit. He was all the things a Black should be, cold and calculating, cruel and crass but never to his friends. No, there he was Gryffindor through and through because he was all the things a Gryffindor should be when it came to the people he cared about — loyal and he would go to the end of the world for them.

He was an enigma and Ella found him refreshing.

* * *

She had a plan. Everyone was in class so it wasn't like anyone could stop her. She would climb down all the stairs she had climbed up and into the Gryffindor boys dormitory. She'd find James' cloak and the map — she knew James had given it to Sirius because there was no way he was just that good at sneaking up on her — and she'd sneak out and apparate to London. It was still visiting hours and she could see James.

With a plan in her head she stood up, wiped the tears from her face and started her descent. She got lost more than once which threw her timeline off because by the time she'd made it to a familiar part of the castle, the bell rung signalling the end of a class which meant the halls got crowded quickly.

Things got stickier when she saw Remus and Alice walking down the hall together but they hadn't spotted her yet so she ducked behind a tapestry that she knew hid a passage to the Great Hall but she could've sworn Remus had seen a flicker of her. So she raced down the passage way coming out behind a portrait in the first floor corridor.

By then, the halls had cleared and Lily ran up the seven flights of stairs to the Gryffindor common room. It was empty — thankfully — and she easily made it up into the boys dormitory. She dug around Sirius' trunk and found the invisibility cloak almost straight away but the map proved more difficult to search for.

She searched all three trunks before giving up and simply summoning it. It took a second, but the map came flying in through the door and Lily gulped. One of the boys had had it on them. They'd know she had it now — she was after all the only other person outside the Marauders who knew about the map.

She shook her head. They were all in class. They wouldn't have time to chase after her especially if she were invisible and they didn't know where she was going.

With that in mind, she activated the map and slipped the coat around her shoulders and over her head. She hastily left the boys dormitory, and sucked in a breath when the portrait hole opened and in stumbled Sirius Black. She edged her way around him and slipped out of the portrait hole before it closed.

"Lily?" he called out. "Lily, I know you took the map!" he called but the portrait hole clicked shut. She didn't look back, didn't even look at the map that's why it came as a shock as a hand grabbed her arm and whirled her around, knocking the hood off her head.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"I felt you slip pass me," he said. "Where are you going?"

"Out."

"Out where?" he questioned but she stayed silent. She wasn't going to give up her plan if she could help it. "You're going to see James, aren't you?"

She didn't say anything. She shrugged her arm out of his grasp and pulled the hood up, rendering her completely invisible.

"I'll see you later, Sirius."

"Lily, Lil! Don't," he shouted after her. "If the teachers find out-"

"They won't," she promised and with that she whirled around and made her way down the stairs.

* * *

Sirius don't know how he did it but he somehow made up an excuse good enough to pull Remus and Peter out of class and he pulled them into an empty classroom.

"Lily's sneaking out to go see, James in St Mungo's."

"What? Why?" Peter asked.

"I told you not to push her," Remus breathed in deeply. "Where is she?"

"I don't know."

"Where's the map?"

"She has it," Sirius told them, "And the cloak."

"So we're on our own," Peter frowned. "How're we supposed to find her if she's invisible and she can see us coming?"

"We've got to slow her down," Remus frowned. "There are seven passages out of the school."

"But James has only taken her through the statue one and the mirror on the fourth floor," Sirius pointed out.

"Okay so we need a distraction to slow her down," Peter said.

Sirius glanced at both of them, "I think it's time."

"You're not thinking…" Peter squinted suspiciously.

"Oh, I am," Sirius assured.

"We said we'd never do that!" Remus protested.

"It's either we do that or Lily gets suspended or worse expelled for sneaking out during class times and to London of all places! She wants to sneak to London! Someone is going to notice she's missing and she'll get in trouble when they find out where she went. So not only are we going to do it. We're doing it now. It's the only thing that would cancel classes and pull everyone into the corridors. No way she makes it to a passage way with all those people in the halls."

"All right," Remus agreed. "You've got everything?"

A bag suddenly appeared in Sirius' hand, "I'm not a rookie, Moony."

"All right, Wormy. It's me and you," Remus said. "Sirius, Padfoot is the only one who can sneak up on her and you can sniff her out. Once everyone is out in the corridors, the dots will be too muddled and you're the only one she won't be able to see coming."

"Remus, if a teacher catches me!"

"Make sure that doesn't happen," Peter suggested.

"Stellar advice, Pete. Thanks," Sirius frowned and then he straightened his shoulder, cracked his neck and said, "Let's go."

* * *

The bad thing about the cloak was how slow you had to walk to make sure every part of you remained invisible and she wasn't up to taking any chances. She was going to get out of this school and see her boyfriend.

But suddenly, rain started falling from the ceiling and not a moment later an alarm started ringing. The alarm that meant everyone was to go to their common rooms. Lily cursed, this had Sirius written all over it. The rain made things difficult. For one she had to tuck away the map so it wouldn't get water damaged which meant she was blind, not that the map would've been much help now that the corridors were filling up with shrieking students, like honestly it was only water, people were so dramatic.

The only good thing about the rain was that it made the cloak stick to her or else there were quite a few bad things. Like the fact that she now had to cling to the walls as she fought against the crowd.

She could feel her heart picking up speed. The plan was diminishing. No, no, no. She just needed a new plan. Everyone was in the corridors but they'd clear out after five minutes which meant she just had to stay hidden from teacher, Remus, Peter and Sirius. Piece of cake.

What chance did they really have? She had the map and the cloak and they had nothing but their wits and their ability to do extravagantly stupid things like make it rain inside an entire castle.

She was on the fifth floor now which meant she was one floor away from the fourth floor mirror passage which was her aim … but if she hid in the passage behind the portrait of Bartholomew the Great, she'd be in perfect positioning to end up on the third floor and only thirty meters away from the statue of the humpback witch. Extra bonus the portrait of Bartholomew the Great was right next to her.

She slipped inside it sleekly so no one around her noticed and closed it back in place. These damn passages were always so dark, she lit her wand and started walking down the steep steps.

She was halfway down when she heard a door opened and then a patter of footsteps chasing after her and a moment later the cloak ripped off her and she whirled around to see a dog transforming into a man.

"Damn it, Sirius!" she shouted.

"Me? _Me?_ " he shouted right back, "Don't pretend like I'm the unreasonable one here! Come on, we're going back to the common room now!"

"No," Lily folded her arms across her chest. "I don't want to be here in this stupid castle!"

"Lily, you can't sneak out to _London_! Are you fucking insane! If they found out you'd be expelled and-"

"AND WHO GIVES A SHIT! I don't want to be here anymore!"

"You don't mean that," Sirius waved off. "You're just angry at the world and you're angry at James."

"I'm not angry at James."

"Don't lie to me," Sirius called her out. "You're angry because he was an idiot and he could have died."

"Fine so maybe I am! What's that got to do with anything?"

"Lily, you don't want to be this person. You're saying you don't care but that's a load of bullshit because if you didn't care you wouldn't be crying right now."

Her hand touched her cheek and sure enough there were hot tears streaming down. The thing was he was right, well sort of. She wasn't angry at James but at what could have happened to him and she wasn't angry at the world. She was terrified of it. It made her want to hide under a rock and never crawl out from under it.

"Fuck you, Sirius," she mumbled. "You couldn't just let me go."

Sirius smiled. "What kind of friend would I be if I let you do something stupid?"

"The kind you've been for the past seven years."

"I'm down for stupid things, Evans, just not when it's dangerous. Not when it can cost you your future."

She slid down the wall and sat on the stair, Sirius taking a seat next to her. The passage was narrow so their shoulders and knees touched.

"Do you want to tell me what's really going on in your head?"

"I — there's a battle going on in me," she admitted, licking her lips. "There's this part of me that wants to fight and do great things and kick ass and do _something_ with a capital 'S'." She smiled softly at him before looking down at the floor again. "And then there's this part of me telling me that I should keep my head down and don't make too much noise because they'll notice you and if they notice you, you're dead but no one is going to care about a girl who failed her NEWTs. No one's going to care about a girl who doesn't do anything."

"James cares. I care. Pete, Remus, Marlene, Alice, Ella, Adaline, Nate … they all care too."

"I know."

"Don't let them control your life, Lily. You were meant to do something with a capital 'S' and to do anything less would be a disservice to yourself. Now, map?"

Lily pulled a face but pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him.

"How'd you make it rain?"

"James and Pete came up with it in fourth year. Remus forbade us from using it, said it was too extreme but today, extreme measures were needed."

Lily nodded slowly and though she didn't know if she meant it, she thanked him and together they walked back, sopping wet, to the common room. Before they went in, Sirius turned, "Agree to never tell James about this?"

Lily considered, "Agreed."

* * *

Sirius had had enough. It had been eight bloody days and the woman still hadn't cracked. He had though that after their heart to heart in the passage the other day, she'd fix herself up but nope. She was still failing her classes though she was less irritable toward him and though it was something, it wasn't enough.

He grabbed her by the arm after fifth period on Wednesday and dragged her as she pushed and pulled against him, swatting at him and calling him every curse she knew. He didn't let her go until they were sat down at the library.

He'd considered doing this somewhere private but under the stern gaze of Madam Pince, Lily would be less likely to shout at him. He sat her down, forcefully and opened a book in front of her.

"Study!" He demanded.

"Piss off," she scoffed.

"Study," he repeated.

"Sirius," she hissed.

"Merlin's sake, Lily just study!"

"I can't," she slammed the book shut and banged her head onto the book. "Every time I try to read, my brain just doesn't soak anything in. I just keep thinking that none of this matters. You think I haven't tried?" she whispered at him furiously. "You think I want to be this - this failure? I can't!"

"Evans, for the billionth time, you aren't going to die! You and James will get married and have beautiful babies and you'll threaten him with divorce every time he swaps the sugar out for salt."

"You don't know that! I mean can he even get it up?"

"Of course he can!"

"You don't know that either," Lily wagged her finger.

"You doubting my prophetic sight?"

"First, I'd like to comment on the fact that you _failed divination_ and second, are you telling me you have prophetic visions of James getting it up?"

"Nothing is out of bounds in brotherhood."

"You know, every time I think your friendship is normal you go on and say something borderline cult."

He was about to retort but shook his head. She was good at getting him off topic if she wanted to avoid a subject.

"Look, you're missing the point."

"Am I?"

"Evans!"

"Black."

"You are! You're not going to die and even if you do, who says NEWTs aren't important in the afterlife?"

"I really want to see where you're going with this."

"Binns!" Sirius clicked his fingers. "If he didn't get high NEWTs they wouldn't have let him stay on as Professor after he turned ghost. Bam! NEWTs being useful in the afterlife! Case and point!"

Lily threw her head back and laughed. "Seriously? If I end up like Binns you have full permission to perform an exorcism and banish me to anywhere."

"Okay, fine! I really didn't want to do this but you've now lost mirror privileges. No James unless you start getting E's or higher."

Lily _tsked_. "Is that really necessary?"

"Well, you're infallible in James' eyes so it's my ass who's going to be kicked when he comes back and sees that you're _failing_ all your classes."

"Hey, I'm not failing Herbology!"

"Peter's not failing Herbology, Evans, doesn't make you smart."

"Mean."

"Truth."

"I just can't," Lily said after a while.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, boo hoo! The world is in a war against muggle-borns and you're a muggle-born, blah blah blah! Get over it and buck the hell up. We all know that every single one of us is going to find a way to fight and you're not going to win if you already think you've lost. None of us will let them touch you, Evans and you're crazy if you think that we would, even more so if you think James would. So when I say that you and James are going to get married and have a bunch of kids, I mean it because you will! You have to … it's what we're fighting for." He paused, breathing heavy for a second.

"So you're going to snap out of this. You're going to start eating again and you're going to go to all of your Professors and ask for extra credit assignments and you're going to smash them. You're going to stop thinking about this stupid war and you're going to stop thinking you're going to die. What you are going to do, is study. You're going to study for NEWTs and you're going to beat all of us and you're going to get some kick ass job in charms development or potions development and one day this feeling, this war, will feel like a bad dream."

"I don't want a kick ass job," she murmured, "I just want to kick ass."

"And we'll find a way," Sirius promised. "But for now, you've got to focus on what's important."

Lily nodded. "You can come with me to McGonagall … make up for your bogus essay."

Sirius snorted. "Please, I handed the _proper_ essay in a day early."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "She was a part of your ruse?"

"I know, I was surprised too. I got full marks for that essay."

Before Sirius could stop her, she flicked a stream of water out of her wand and onto his face. "That is for making me feel guilty, you git!"

Sirius wiped the water out of his eyes. "Is this throwing liquid on people thing becoming a habit because I must say, I don't like it."

Lily just squirted more water at him until her name being called out halted her, saving Sirius from the wrath of water.

"Lily!" Mia sighed, sitting into the seat next to Lily.

Madam Pince eyed their table disapprovingly.

"Hey, Mia," Lily said much more quietly. "Might want to lower your voice."

"Oh, right," Mia dropped her voice lower, "I've been running."

She certainly had. Her face was red and fine beads of sweat were on her nose.

"Are you okay?"

"Perfect," Mia told her with a happy grin. "Can we talk later?"

"Yeah — yeah of course," Lily agreed. "Tonight-" Sirius coughed pointedly and Lily rolled her eyes. It was Study Group night. "Tomorrow we can have breakfast together?"

"Perfect," Mia grinned and she stood up, the chair scraping against the stone. Lily winced. "Oh, sorry. See you tomorrow," and with that she was off just as quickly as she'd come.

"I made her cry you know," Sirius said haughtily.

"I'm aware."

"I told her McKinnon used to say Adams name in his sleep when they were together."

Lily gaped, "Sirius, that's awful!"

"Didn't make it any less true and she's stopped trying to split McKinnon and Adams up so you're welcome."

"There are nicer ways to do things," Lily said adamantly.

"Sure, in another life, if I were Remus." Lily rolled her eyes but Sirius clicked his fingers in front of her face, "Don't get distracted, study. We're not leaving until you can recite the twenty-six steps of becoming an animagus by heart."

So reluctantly but knowing there was really no way around it, she opened her Transfiguration text book and dipped her quill into the ink pot and started reading, writing detailed notes as she went until, as Sirius had vowed, Lily could recite the twenty-six steps by heart.

* * *

Mia was waiting by the doors of the Great Hall when Lily entered and Lily, bid goodbye to Marlene, Ella and Sirius, the last of whom shouted after her, "You better actually eat something!"

Lily rolled her eyes as she approached Mia with a smile. "Your table then?" she asked and Mia nodded.

They found the most secluded area of the Ravenclaw table before sitting and Lily placed a piece of toast and some eggs on her plate before turning to Mia, "What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I kissed someone," Mia said slowly, "Someone I probably shouldn't have kissed."

Lily paused mid-chew. "Mia, if you're telling me you kissed Nate McKinnon I-"

"Not Nate!" Mia swore immediately.

"Okay," Lily said slowly and resumed chewing before asking, "Than who?"

"I can't say."

"So you wanted to tell me you kissed someone but you can't tell me who." Lily processed that and then, "Is he fit?"

"Yeah."

"Is he in your year?"

"No." Before Lily could ask another question, Mia ranted on. "I mean, he's been trying after me secretly since we got back to school and yesterday we were alone and he kissed me and everything just felt right you know?"

Lily smiled softly, sadly because she did know. She had that person, he was just sitting in a hospital a thousand miles away. "Yeah, I do. So if he's so great, why can't I get a name?" Lily asked.

"We want to keep it on the down low for a while, see where it goes before we start snogging in corridors."

Lily laughed, "Well, I better not find you in any broom cupboards with him."

Mia grinned and then awkwardly side hugged Lily. "Thank you for listening," she whispered. "It's like Nate was the last good thing in my life and it seems like this could be something good, maybe even better — I just wanted someone to tell."

"You can tell me anything, good or bad."

Mia grinned, "Okay well, this can't all be one sided then. How about you? I haven't seen Potter around lately and Black sticks to you like glue."

"Yeah," Lily said, "James was injured in the attack on New Year's — I just assumed everyone knew. That awful Skeeter reporter wrote an article and James was mentioned."

"That's - that's terrible! Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Lily said and maybe for the first time she truly believed it. "It's just going to take a bit of time."

"I'll put him in my prayers," Mia offered.

"You pray?"

"Yeah," Mia admitted, her cheeks flushing red. "My family are Catholic and we're pretty religious — I went to Bible school until Hogwarts."

Lily smiled, "That's wonderful — my family isn't very religious and when Hogwarts started, well, I don't really think about religion unless I go home for Easter." Lily meant every word she said, she rather liked the idea that someone was praying for the people in this old, crazy castle. It felt settling, like God hadn't forgotten about this little section of the world that often felt so isolated compared to the rest of the world.

Mia relaxed her shoulders in relief and started piling food onto her own plate as they started a conversation on their studies. Lily found herself laughing quite a bit as they made fun of things purebloods were completely clueless about in the muggle world. By the end of breakfast, Lily was not only dedicated to helping Mia, but also to being her friend.

* * *

"Guess who got their first 'O' since coming back from holidays!" Marlene shouted entering the girl's dormitory where Ella, Alice and Adaline sat on their beds.

"Marly!" Lily complained, "Don't make a big deal-" But it was too late the girls were cheering and clapping and Lily flushed a furious shade of red. "It's not a big deal," she mumbled.

"Yes it is," Alice countered, "And we must celebrate!"

"We really don't have to," Lily pleaded.

"Nothing big," Alice promised, "Just us girls and a bottle or two of firewhiskey."

"I'm down for that," Ella bounced on her bed.

"Slumber party time!" Adaline shouted. "Everyone pyjamas on and music up!"

"Muggle or wizard?" Marlene asked looking through her collection of vinyls.

"Oh, put on August Green's new album," Lily moved her hand in a circular motion, "What's it called-"

"Catching Dragons?" Ella asked and Lily clicked and exclaimed, "Yes!"

Marlene put the music on and after the girls were in their pyjamas they pulled out all their sweets and alcohol and spread out across the floor bringing with them blankets and pillows. The girls laughed and sang and chatted and it was like a war didn't exist anymore.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Lily shouted, calling order to the chaos, "Kiss, marry and kill … Dumbledore, Slughorn and Flitwick."

"Ew! Lily gross!" Marlene laughed. "But kill the slug, marry Dumbledore and kiss Flitwick."

The girls burst out laughing, "You can't marry Dumbledore he's like a hundred and ten!" Ella exclaimed.

"But come on, think of all the wisdom and he's a hundred years old, dude that old has gotta have money," Marlene shrugged. "Kiss, marry or kill … Avery, Yaxely or Carrow."

"Kill them all," Adaline declared.

"Nope you've got to marry or kiss one. Choose!"

"Nuh uh," Adaline countered. "Kill one via poison on lips when I kiss them. Marry one and stab him in his sleep. The other just dies right?"

Lily laughed, "Excellent strategy, Bennett. New rule, no Slytherin mentions."

"Fine!" Marlene groaned.

"Okay I have one for Ella," Alice wagged her eyebrows.

"Have at it then," Ella encouraged.

"Sirius, Putley and Walker."

"Seriously, Walker? We like dated in Fifth Year!" Ella complained.

"Not my fault your love life is sad," Alice retorted.

"My love life is not sad and why is Black included in my love life?"

The girls glanced at each other and smirked. "Come on, Ella don't act like you don't have the hots for him."

"He's just a friend."

"Oh, Merlin," Adaline gasped, "Alice help me!" she clutched her chest. "This is Marlene and Nate all over again."

"Oi!" Ella complained. "It is not!"

"It so is," Alice agreed.

"I hate both of you."

"Well answer the question," Lily prompted.

"Kill Putley, kiss Black, marry Walker."

The girls uproared. "As if!"

"You hate Walker! You threw a textbook at his head last year!"

"I've grown and in the process of growing I conclude that despite the nasty break-up, Walker's a pretty decent bloke."

"Nasty break-up?" Lily echoed. "You shouted in front of the entire common room that you'd rather be eaten by a hippogriff than give him a second chance."

"He responded by yelling that he'd rather see you be eaten by a hippogriff than get back with you," Marlene finished.

"Like I said, nasty."

"It's okay she's only saying she'd kiss Black and marry Walker to cover up the fact that she actually does fancy Black," Alice sighed. "You, Ella, are officially Marlene the Second."

The night went on in the same fashion and the girls couldn't remember a time where they'd laugh so hard in a while. It was like everything bad that had happened in the last year — Lily being attacked, Alice's mum dying, James being in hospital — it was like all of that lifted off them.

So they drank and played stupid games late into the night and early into the morning until they all retreated back into their beds and their voices got low as their eyes became tired.

"Al, is Doc in danger?" Ella asked, her voice barely above a whisper but in the quiet of the room, she needn't have spoken much louder.

Alice didn't reply for a while and Ella thought she'd fallen asleep like Marlene and Adaline, but just as Ella had rolled over to sleep herself, Alice replied.

"Yeah, a little bit. I can't tell you why or how but-"

"I can," Lily interrupted. She played with the edge of her quilt as she said, "Dumbledore … he must've — I mean that is, I think."

"Think what?" Alice asked curiously.

"A while back, September maybe October I was out late one night and there were people in the castle."

"People?" Ella asked.

"Not bad people. They were with Dumbledore," Lily explained. "Dumbledore was putting on some sort of gathering and from what I heard, they're were a lot of people involved. A lot of families. I, after New Year's, Emmeline and Doc being at that party together, I think, I think Dumbledore's leading some kind of rebellion."

"A rebellion?" Ella asked sceptically.

"I mean, the Ministry wasn't doing anything about You-Know-Who but Dumbledore did defeat Grindelwald and what other reason could Dumbledore have to host a secret meeting at Hogwarts at eleven o'clock at night?" Lily paused and then, "Am I right, Alice?"

Alice stayed silent.

"Al?" Ella prodded.

"It's called the Order of The Phoenix. Emmeline and Doc are in it. I can't believe you put that together after hiding from a few people after curfew!"

"How much do you know about it?" Lily asked not caring to explain that James and her had crashed the meeting under an invisibility cloak. "Your sister seemed all for it."

"Not much. Em hardly tells me anything. She only told me because, well," Alice tittered nervously, "Bellatrix tried to recruit me to their side."

"Merlin, she's crazy," Ella muttered. "You're not even out of school!"

"Makes you wonder how many Slytherins have already been recruited," Alice murmured.

"How do you join then? The Order?"

"Em never said but I wager that you would get an invite from Dumbledore."

"Merlin," Adaline groaned, "Will you three shut up? Trying to sleep off my hangover."

Lily smirked. "I don't think it's a hangover if you're still drunk."

"Murmph, you lot still," A yawn interrupted Marlene's sentence as she stretched out, "Up?"

"No, the ghosts decided to throw a party in our dorm," Ella lied.

"That's nice," Marlene rolled over, ready to fall back asleep.

"See, now that's hungover," Lily commented as Adaline sat up and threw a pillow across the room to hit Marlene.

"Hmph, what?"

"Wake up," Adaline insisted.

"Sleep time."

"You're missing all the good gossip," Alice sung softly and that had Marlene rolling onto her back and rubbing her eyes.

"You have ten minutes."

The three girls quickly filled in Adaline and Marlene about the Order and then they moved onto the hard questions.

"We're fighting, right?" Adaline asked softly.

"If we can find a way to join," Marlene agreed. "It'll be a little scary though, won't it? Fighting people like Bellatrix Lestrange."

"We just have to make sure we're better than them," Ella murmured.

"And if we're not?"

"We die," Lily said simply, "We just have to take as many down with us as we can."

"I feel like I could kill them all," Alice murmured, "Just with my rage."

"Aurors can't kill."

"The way the Ministry's going, it won't be far off," Marlene muttered. "Did you hear they're considering letting Aurors use unforgiveables? And they've been given permission to shoot first, ask questions later."

"Can't really blame them," Adaline sighed. "War Amendments. At least they're doing something."

"It's not enough," Lily said.

"Well, of course not but it's a start in the right direction."

"I suppose," Lily conceded. "I told McGonagall I want to be a lobbyist."

"A what?" Ella asked.

"Someone who uses public interest to sway the Ministry into what laws should be passed, who should go into positions of power, stuff like that."

"Like M.A.E?"

Lily smiled softly. "I'd forgotten about that. Mia never sends us the newsletters."

"Is that the only thing you want to do after Hogwarts?" Marlene asked, "That's such a waste of-"

"Do not say talent."

"-Talent."

"I hate you."

"Well, it's true."

"I know. McGonagall said I would do well in charms development or in something to do with potions."

"You would," Ella agreed.

"You know, you could do a bit of both if you become a healer like me," Marlene suggested. "Applications are still open."

"No," Lily shook her head. "Too much sadness, I mean the world is a sad place but I don't need a front seat."

"I owled my application for the Auror training program," Alice said. "The accelerated one where you do it in two years instead of three and it's more hands on and field work."

"They'll be dumb not to accept you," Adaline exclaimed.

"You think?"

"Yeah," the girls agreed.

"I hate not knowing what to do," Lily murmured.

"It'll work itself out," Adaline assured.

 _Or it won't_ , Lily couldn't help but think.

* * *

It was her birthday. Everything was loud and noisy — Sirius had gone ahead and thrown a stupid party, in the library of all places, despite her telling him that she didn't want to do anything for her birthday.

The Sunday had been quite normal. She woke up and Sirius intercepted her on her way to breakfast. He watched her eat two slices of toast before hauling her into the library where they did the Potions assignment that was due on Tuesday together — his insistence to be sat next to her in every class had ensured that they were partnered for any and every group assignment that had come up in the past week.

At lunch an owl came from James — a letter wishing her a happy birthday, which was really sweet and made her smile and he promised he would see her soon.

"See Evans, he's doing fine," Sirius said.

"Nowhere in this letter does it say that," Lily deadpanned.

"Prongs is always fine," Sirius waved off. "Have I ever told you about the time Moony threw him in the lake?"

"Who's Moony?" Ella asked, leaning over to reach the pumpkin juice.

"James' pet hippogriff," Sirius said easily. Ella raised an eyebrow. "James has a pet hippogriff?"

"It's Hagrid's," Lily corrected Sirius. "James is just overly attached to it."

Sirius launched into the story that took them through lunch and then they trudged to an empty Potions lab to work on their theory, which was actually quite fun as they got to blow up a few things in the name of science.

At around six, Sirius dumped her with Remus who asked after her panic attacks which she was quick to brush off. Then it was weird, everyone was missing. It was literally just her and Remus in the common room until he suggested a walk at nine. Before they even reached the party, she knew.

So she pulled on her best surprise face and happiest smile, just because she wasn't in the mood for a party they still went through all this effort for her and so she pretended to smile and laugh and drink. She danced with the girls and sung along to the songs and no one suspected that she didn't want to be there.

The clock had just hit midnight and it was her birthday. She was no longer seventeen and she didn't feel any older or anymore wiser. This didn't feel like her birthday party despite the banner telling her otherwise. It just felt like another day, another party. She supposed all birthdays felt like that.

"Now, what would a pretty girl like you be doing alone at a party like this?" a voice said in her ear and she jumped, spinning around to see him for herself.

There he was. All smirking and eyes shining, hair a mess and _standing_.

"You're — you're standing," a strangled laugh escaped her lips as her lips slid into a slow grin, the only real one she'd smiled all night.

"I am," he confirmed, "All better."

Lily couldn't help the tear that fell, it was a happy one though and she stepped closer and brought him down in a bone crushing hug.

"Miss me?" he whispered in her ear sending chills down her spine as his arms tightened around her and he pulled her up so her toes were just touching the floor.

She breathed him in and Merlin she missed that smell. It was woodsy and peppermint at the same time and it was _James_. She closed her eyes, just soaking in this moment. Nothing else mattered, not the music, not the alcohol, not the people. The only thing that mattered was James.

"Never, ever leave me again," she whispered.

"I missed you, too." She pulled back, cupping his face in her hands and just looked at him. "Happy birthday, love."

She giggled with a goofy grin, not believing her own eyes that he was back because she'd been missing him for so long that now it all just felt a lot like happiness and she couldn't believe it. She leaned up on her tip toes and planted a kiss on his lips. "Let's get out of here."

"We have to stay for the cake," James said scandalised. "Besides, I want to enjoy the party I planned."

"You planned?" Lily asked.

"I mean, Sirius did all the heavy lifting with Remus and Pete but I told him to throw a party and made the plan for how to do it in the library."

Lily laughed, "Of course you did and did you just get here? It's midnight."

"I got here around seven. I had to hide, you know make it a birthday wish come true for you."

Lily kissed him, "God, you're an idiot sometimes."

"I love you, too, dear. Now, lets go join the party."

He slung an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head as the ventured off into the party to find their friends.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hello everyone who is bothered to read this :) As always thanks for reading and if you like it please, review, fav and follow!_

 _Sorry for the late update - in all honesty this would have been up last week but I was away from home for a few days in a place with no wifi, which is as depressing as it sounds. (Not really, my friends and I compensated with alocohol). The next chapter is ready (and I like it much more than this chapter tbh) but the chapter after is not so I probably won't be updating until the next chapter is at least halfway done which probably won't be for another week, depending on how motivated I'm feeling._

 _Please let me know about you thoughts on the story so far :D_

 _-Natalie xx_


	25. Chapter 24: Here Comes the Sun

"You beat yesterday's time by a whole minute!"

James collapsed onto his back breathing heavily. "I feel like my lungs are trying to crawl out of my chest," James admitted and Lily laughed.

"You did good," she assured him, "In fact, I think it's time to get on a broom."

James looked up. "I don't think I'm ready."

"James, you don't need to be a top runner to fly a broom. Just get back on, see what mobility you have."

"I don't want to yet."

"Too bad it's not up to you. I'm your personal trainer remember?" Lily held up the clipboard, to show James the training schedule she'd made for him. "Now, up," she demanded. "You have to do five laps of the pitch on a broom." She summoned his and Sirius' broom from the broom shed and handed him his.

He took it reluctantly, almost as though he was scared though Lily knew better than to think he was scared of the broom. No, he was scared that he won't be as good as a flyer as he used to be. It was complete bullocks, she'd done plenty of reading in the library since she'd designated herself his personal trainer and most experts agree that stamina is only a small part of flying.

"Are you sure about this, Lil?"

"You're not scared, are you?" she goaded, raising an eyebrow.

James muttered incoherently and mounted his broom. Lily kicked off and James, not one to be left behind, followed suit.

Lily hovered in the middle of the pitch watching him as he sped around the perimeter of the pitch. He was made for flying. There was nothing quite like James Potter on a broom, Lily thought. He looked so free, as he twisted and looped, whooping the whole time. Lily laughed because he was such an idiot.

Her idiot boyfriend, moments ago terrified of being on a broom was now whooping as he flew through the air, zig zagging around the Quidditch posts and his laughter floated through the air.

He skidded to a stop next to her and she smiled. "So?" she asked.

He kissed her cheek and grinned. "You were right."

"What was that?" she asked, "Couldn't quite hear you."

"You were right!"

"What was I?"

"You, Lily Evans," James shouted, "My beautiful, talented, smart girlfriend, were right!" Lily laughed as he leaned over to kiss her again, "Wanna race?"

Normally, Lily would say no because it would just boost his ego and she'd never hear the end of how he beat her in a flying race but today, well today she couldn't bring herself to say no.

"Fine," she sighed already knowing she'd lose.

They spent the rest of the afternoon flying together, having races and testing James' strength and aim with a quaffle, James said Lily was a lousy keeper and flipped him off and said, "Not a quidditch player, remember?" She checked the time and gasped. "Merlin, James it's past seven! We've been out here for two hours."

"Oh come on," James pleaded, "Just a bit longer!"

"We're going to miss breakfast," she shouted, already descending. "We'll come out again tomorrow."

James took his time descending, much to Lily's chagrin but when he finally did land next to her, he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on the mouth.

"You're the best," he told her.

"I know," she sighed dramatically. "How will you ever compare?"

* * *

Lily and James sat separately in Herbology, Lily electing to sit with the girls and James with the boys and as Professor Postumus announced a partnered assignment. In that moment, students could be seen glancing at their preferred partners across the room. For Sirius glanced at Ella, who glanced at Adaline who glanced at Alice who looked rather put out. Marlene glanced at Nate. Remus and Peter glanced at each other and James and Lily leaned forward ever so slightly to glance at each other.

In the seconds it took everyone to glance, Professor Postumus announced, "I will be assigning partners," and all at once everyone slumped in their seats, waiting now, to see who they would be doomed to work with.

Professor Postumus called out pairs, one by one.

"Dearborn with Black." Ella slumped into her seat as Black grinned triumphantly.

"Lupin with Adams." They glanced at each other and nodded — there were worse partners.

"McKinnon with Burke." Nate pulled a face at Marlene who shrugged.

"Bonham with Potter." James leaned forward to glance at Lily and drew a tear running down his face.

"Vance with Piggens." Alice shrugged — Polly was a gossip but so was Alice.

"Bennett with Pettigrew." Peter finger gunned at Adaline who shook her head in an attempt not to laugh at his antics.

"Evans with Fortescue." Lily froze. James froze. Sirius laughed.

It's not that she hated Andrew Fortescue, couldn't stand him and did her best to avoid all interaction with him, it was just that she hated Andrew Fortescue, couldn't stand him and did her best to avoid all interaction with him. Not to mention the teasing Sirius would force on her. What would Lily even say to Fortescue? _Ha, how about that? I'm madly in love with the bloke you told me not to talk to and I was right about him so suck a dick!_ Yeah no, she didn't think that would flow so well with him.

After class Lily found James immediately and held a finger up to Sirius, "Not a god damned word, you hear me?"

Sirius shut his mouth as James wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple. "It's only two weeks. You guys meet for a half hour, pick a topic and decide who's going to do what. Then you meet a few days before its due to put it all together and there done."

Lily sighed, "I suppose but Merlin, it literally could've been anyone else."

"Yes, I feel that way too," a sour voice said from behind her and Lily shut her eyes in dread.

She turned and said, "Fortescue."

"Evans," he said looking at her and then at the arm still wrapped around Lily, "Potter."

"I, uh, suppose we should pick a time to meet."

"I've Quidditch practice most days … how's Sunday afternoon?"

"Brill," Lily nodded. "Library at three?"

He nodded and then without further ado, walked back to his mates and Lily shuddered involuntarily. "I hate this so much."

"Oh, James!" Helena Bonham called out, running over to them. "We should probably meet up some time to get started."

"Ah, sure," James agreed. "Sunday at the library?"

"Yeah, sure what time?"

"Is three good for you?"

Lily nudged him and he just wagged his eyebrows at her.

"Three's perfect!" she enthused, "See you then."

Bonham walked off back to her friends and Lily sighed, "Wanna swap partners?"

"Not sure you wanna do that, Evans," Sirius smirked.

"Why? Helena's perfectly lovely."

"Yes, Prongs' thought so too all through summer."

"Padfoot," James huffed before turning to Lily. "It's not a big deal."

Her eyebrows raised though at the new information. James and Helena had been a thing during the summer and judging by Helena's warm tone towards James, it ended amicably.

"Yeah, 'course," she coughed slightly, "I just didn't know you two had been a thing."

"It was nothing, just a few snogs in a few bars."

"Right," Lily nodded again. There were things Lily could have said, things she probably would have said if Sirius hadn't been standing right there but he was so she didn't. Instead she said, "Let's head to the pitch yeah? We can knock off today's hour of flying so we can do homework after classes."

* * *

"You've been weird," Sirius declared catching up with Ella after Herbology seeing as they were partnered together.

After weeks of sitting together in classes and having meals together, she'd suddenly felt the need to do everything alone or with one of the girls. She sat in between Marlene and Nate during breakfast and yesterday in Charms she made some lame as excuse to go sit with Adaline and Alice when he sat next to her. She had made it pretty obvious that she was avoiding him.

He had foolishly expressed his concerns to his dorm mates last night and they all were extremely unhelpful by asking why Sirius cared for anyways until Remus ended the conversation with, "Maybe she can't stand your ugly head anymore."

"I'm not," Ella frowned.

"You are," Sirius informed her. "Why?"

"I'm not being weird. In fact, you thinking I'm being weird is weird."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "You're trying to psych me out of my analysis."

"Is that what this is?" Ella asked. "I thought it was you being weird."

"Want to hear my theory?"

"Nothing would make my day more," Ella said sarcastically.

"You're avoiding me."

Ella scoffed, "I am not!" She was but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"You so are. Don't know why though."

"You're delusional. I'm not avoiding you."

Sirius frowned. It wasn't that he was upset that she was avoiding him just that if he had done something to make her want to avoid him, he'd like to know what exactly he'd done because they'd been fine. They had been hanging out like normal up until she decided to start avoiding him.

Maybe she figured out he wanted to snog her.

"Oi! Sirius, Lil and I are going out on the pitch after Transfiguration, want to come?" James shouted across the corridor and the time that it took Sirius to turn his head, Ella slipped away and out of sight.

Sirius sighed as Lily could be heard scolding James. "Why don't you just magically enhance your voice next time? I think there were some owls that didn't hear you in the Owlery."

"He was far away!" James defended.

"He was literally ten steps away," Lily deadpanned.

"Exactly," James said as they reached Sirius. "So you in?"

"In for what?" Sirius said absent-mindedly.

"Maybe you should've magically enhanced your voice. I thought dogs were supposed to have good hearing."

James rolled his eyes. "He's zoned out. He thinks Dearborn's avoiding him."

"He is right here and can hear you," Sirius said pointedly.

"Oh, so now he can hear," Lily teased.

"What do you want?" Sirius huffed.

"Quidditch pitch after Transfig, you in?" James asked.

"Yeah, yeah, you need a decent keeper if you really want to test your aim accuracy."

"Besides, I think I'm going to give it a miss," Lily announced.

"What?" James said, "Why?"

Lily shrugged. "I want to go over my Charms essay again."

"You went over that last night," James furrowed his brows. "In fact you went to Flitwick and spoke to him for twelve minutes about it."

"There's just a few things I'm not happy with yet and this free is the only time I'll have to look over it once more but Sirius is going with you so it's fine. Not a big deal."

"Haven't you heard, Evans? Quidditch isn't just a game — it's a way of life! You have to be there to see Prongsie score."

"Yes," Lily smiled tightly, "Well, apparently it's not a big deal when he does score."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked incredulous but Sirius caught the double meaning.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"I don't want to go to class," Sirius whined.

"I can be your new BFF since your old one is ignoring you."

"Hey, I'm not ignoring him!" James countered.

"I didn't mean you."

"Oh, Ella."

"Ha! You admit it, she is ignoring me!" Sirius cried in victory.

"Only if you admit you want to snog her," James countered.

"You," he lowered his voice, "Don't think she's figured it out, do you? And that's why she's avoiding me."

Lily's mouth dropped and she exclaimed, hitting James' arm, "He wants to snog her! Holy fuck, you fancy her!"

He wasn't even going to bother denying it.

"Shh, would you?" Sirius grumbled before shaking his head, "I'll see you guys on the pitch."

"Just James!" she called after him.

* * *

Valentine's day, Lily thought with dread, the one day of the year when there was a spike in detentions because of young couples being found in broom closets and empty classrooms, snogging and shagging.

"We have got to do that patrol," James grinned. "I want to see who's shagging who."

"I will gladly tag along," Sirius had offered but Lily had put her foot down.

"We're doing the patrol," Lily agreed, "But Sirius can't come."

"Wench," Sirius pouted.

It went without saying that they ignored Alice's dot sneaking into a secret passage out of the castle. She'd be meeting up with Frank and Lily and James weren't about to spoil her fun.

"This is incredibly boring," James groaned. "How late do these people want to wait? Even Alice has snuck out already."

"They'll be out soon enough," Lily assured, popping a strawberry in her mouth. "Once the teachers have gone to bed."

Seeing as their date for Valentine's Day had been overrun by patrol, they'd set up a picnic of sorts in the Head's Office. Lily had picked up a basket of fruits and cheeses and a bottle of wine for later from the kitchens and the two sat propped up against the couch, map spread between them.

Lily and James allowed all couples who inevitably snuck out after curfew a half hour before bursting their bubble and sending them back to their common rooms — they weren't complete monsters after all.

"So what did you mean today?" James finally asked her. He and Sirius had talked about it and Sirius had said she was most likely pissed about Helena but Lily wasn't the jealous type and James had already told her it was no big deal.

"Hmm?" Lily asked, still studying the map — Alex Blake was sneaking out. It was odd to know that people could face such tragedies, such as their sister being murdered, and they still went on living.

"When you said 'apparently it's not a big deal when he does score'," James clarified.

"Oh," Lily said flatly.

"Because you know, it was nothing just a few snogs-"

"In a few bars," Lily finished. "Yes, I remember."

"O-kay," James said slowly. "So why do you seem pissed?"

"It's stupid," she huffed.

"Spit it out."

"Well, we — we started as just a few snogs in a few broom closets."

"Lily," he sighed, appalled.

"I know," she exclaimed, "I'm being ridiculous but it's just there. I mean, what makes me so different to Helena Bonham?"

"Lils, I have literally been crushing on you since fourth year. If I ever decide to leave you, hell if you leave me, just avada me and get it over with."

"James," she said, not impressed.

He looked at her for a moment, gauging her cast down eyes and tight jaw. "The difference is I love you."

"You could've loved Helena," Lily argued. "She's pretty, and kind and flawless."

"Please, her food is gossip and she's _blonde_. I much prefer red heads … and I couldn't have loved her. I've been in love with you since last May." He paused and then cursed. "She was a lame attempt at a rebound, Lily. I wanted to get over you, but I couldn't."

"Oh."

"Alright, Evans?" James asked.

Instead of answering, she propped herself on her knees and leaned over the map, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

"Alright," she said and he grinned, cupping her face and running his thumb over her cheek before kissing her again.

She pulled back, sitting down on her side and James pointed to the map.

"Your newest friend is sneaking out."

"She said she was with someone," Lily murmured, "Wouldn't tell me who. Movement in the Slytherin common room," she announced. They had each taken charge of two houses, Lily: Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and James: Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Lily rather detested her pick in houses when she spotted Peyton Aitken sneak out to meet Andrew Fortescue. Together they had made their way to the greenhouses where they'd most likely shagged for a half hour before they headed back to their common rooms. Honestly, it was just information she hadn't wanted at this point.

"Ah, Marlene and Nate have finally dared to venture out … looks like their heading to the Room of Requirement. We should crash their date later," James grinned mischievously.

Lily rolled her eyes. "We'll give them an hour. Update on Mia?"

"She looks like she's heading out to the greenhouses. Your Slytherin?"

"Gabriel Lemaire … huh, he's heading to the greenhouse as well."

James raised an eyebrow. "She didn't mention who's house her mystery bloke belonged to?"

"No but she wouldn't get with a Slytherin … would she? Lemaire," Lily considered, "I don't recognise the name."

"He's in sixth year," James told her. "Sirius did a bit of research on his family since Reg and Lemaire became tight in first year. Pure-blood and not the good sort though most of his family is still in France. His parents moved to London when Lemaire's mother got a job as the French Ambassador for the Ministry of Magic."

Lily frowned. Slytherin and pureblood. She couldn't fathom what Mia would be doing with a pureblood Slytherin, one who was a year older than her, she had to be meeting someone else. She wouldn't be stupid enough to get involved with anyone in that crowd.

"So what's on the training agenda tomorrow morning?"

"We get a morning off. We'll go out in the afternoon instead," Lily told him. "Any other sneakers?"

"Quiet. Mia's at the greenhouse and what do you mean in the afternoon?"

"Exactly that — it's meant to be dreadful weather tomorrow morning anyways. Lemaire's approaching … James, what if she's in danger?"

The two dots collided on the page and James raised an eyebrow, "They're definitely snogging."

James watched Lily's anxious expression and stood up, dusting his pants, "Come on. Let's go bust them."

* * *

She crawled out of the passage way in the alley behind the Three Broomsticks and Frank was waiting, leaning against the wall and a smile flooded her face as she pounced on him, his lips catching hers easily as he spun her around.

"Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie," he grinned, kissing her lips once more.

"Mm, happy Valentine's Day," she smiled back. "So," she drawled, "What's the surprise?"

He laughed and studied her for a minute, "You seem happy."

Her smile dimmed ever so slightly at the very indirect mention of her mother. She shrugged. Grief had been a fickle thing. Sometimes it was all she could think about. It deterred her from listening in class and she couldn't bring herself to read the chapter assigned. Other times, she was … well, she was how she was before. She was happy and she could laugh and make jokes. Today, well today was one of the other times.

She kissed him sweetly and he smiled into the kiss, pulling her close. "Hope you don't mind us apparating?"

"We're not staying in Hogsmeade?" she asked.

"Please, Hogsmeade is so Seventh Year."

She laughed and pushed him away, "Prat!" He pulled her with him and she landed on his chest, her face merely an inch from his. She soaked his face in, his mouth, his eyes, the way his hair fell over his forehead. She frowned ever so slightly at the new addition to his face that was hidden under his fringe.

"What's this?" She pushed his fringe away from his forehead where a bumpy pink line streaked down his forehead above his left eye.

"It's nothing."

"Frank, that's scarring! It's not nothing. What happened?"

"Auror mission," he said immediately. "Top secret."

"Mission? You're in first year training. You're not supposed to be going on missions until second year."

"It's the fast tracked program."

"You're lying," Alice accused because she knew he was. She had been pouring over the fast tracked Auror Training program for almost four weeks now and fast tracked or not, no one starts assisting in missions until they've had a year of training. First year trainees were only allowed to help with paper work and to go on distress calls. They weren't allowed to go on missions, much less top secret ones.

"Al," Frank sighed.

"What happened?"

"Was it during training?"

"Y-yes."

"You stuttered," Alice noted. "You only stutter when you're not sure."

"Al, I'm telling you it's nothing but I can't tell you what happened."

"Why? Did it even have anything to do with the Auror office?"

"I — of course why would you ask that?"

Alice eyed him. She knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that he joined a certain group of people who fought against Voldemort. He would tell her, right? Emmeline would have told him that Alice knew.

"Is that really a question you need me to answer?" Alice raised an eyebrow. "Just admit it."

"Er … what?"

"It's okay, Frank," Alice insisted, "Emmy told me about it."

"Emmeline told you about _what_?"

Alice leaned back to look at him better, searching his face. "You really don't know?"

"Know what?"

"I — Dumbledore-"

"What about Dumbledore?"

Alice cocked her head, searching him one last time for any signs that he knew exactly what he was talking about. Finding none, she shook her head. "I — nothing. Don't worry about it." She pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Let's go."

"What don't I know?"

"Nothing," Alice assured him. "Nothing at all."

* * *

James and Lily crept up the side of the greenhouse, muttering at each other.

"I don't understand why we can't just bust them?" James sighed, as they ducked under the windows — Lily didn't want to be seen.

"Because then she'll see me as an authoritative figure not a friend and I won't be able to help her."

James watched as Lily peered into the window and wrinkled her face. Lemaire definitely wasn't attacking her then.

"Urgh," Lily groaned. "Look at them!"

"I'd really rather not," James informed her as he made himself comfortable sitting against the greenhouse. "Perving on fifth years making out isn't my idea of a good time."

Lily whacked his arm and slid down next to him. "This relationship has 'no good' written all over it."

"You once said that about me," James pointed out.

"I can be wrong about some things," Lily conceded. James grinned, using his hand to bring her chin and in a moment he had her soft smile on his grin and her fingers threaded through his. She swung her body over his, straddling him as his hands went up her shirt, she hissed at his icy fingers and retaliated by placing her own icy fingers under his collar.

She rocked her body slowly against his, knowing it drove him crazy when she did just that, and pressed her lips against his more roughly. His hands tightened around her hips and she nipped his lip before pushing her hair to one side and moving down to his neck where she nibbled and sucked softly.

"Lils, you gotta stop," he moaned in a way that Lily knew he wanted the exact opposite of what he'd just said. She smirked a smirk that she only could've learned from James himself and asked, "Why?"

"Gotta stop unless you wanna have a go right here." But he pushed her hair back and kissed her lips holding her to him and in that moment, Lily didn't care that they were outside, on damp grass outside the greenhouses or that they were meant to be on patrol.

"I don't wanna stop," Lily murmured into his lips and within a second, James flipped them so Lily was lying on the grass and she let out a squeal followed by a series of giggles that James cut off with his lips.

"Shh," he instructed, pressing kisses all down her neck. "If anyone catches us…"

"Scared, Potter?" she asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

He swooped down and kissed the smirk right off her face, slipping his hand under her skirt and —

"Lily?"

James froze for a moment before fixing Lily's skirt and rolling off her, grateful that his cloak would've blocked the girl's view of what exactly they had been doing though James was sure she got the general idea.

"Mia," Lily said brightly, sitting up and acting as though she hadn't been caught snogging and half way to shagging with her boyfriend outside the greenhouses where Mia herself had been halfway to shagging with her mystery who-wasn't-so-much-a-mystery-now beau.

"What - what are you doing out here?"

"Oh, uh, James and I are on patrols."

"Patrols?" Mia said doubtfully.

"She's quite distracting," James offered, standing up and landing a hand to Lily to pull her up as well.

"It is Valentine's Day," Lily nudged him and from the corner of her eye she could see him biting down his smirk. "Meeting your mystery bloke, Mia?"

"Oh, yeah — we, uh, we heard noises."

"You heard noises and he let you come out alone?" James arched a brow, glancing at Lily.

"He's checking the other side," she explained.

"Oh," Lily nodded as if in understanding. "Well, as Head Girl and Boy… if we catch you out again, we'll have to give you detention."

"Best get back to your common room," James advised. "Anyways we should — we've got stuff to do."

"Yes!" Lily seized the safety line, "Lots and lots of stuff — patrols and all. You know there are some closets on the first floor we still haven't checked yet," Lily said slipping her hand in James' and pulling him away. "Bye, Mia!"

"Some closets we still haven't snogged in yet, I hope you mean," James whispered in her ear.

They could barely contain their laughter as they ran back to the castle as though they had been the ones to be caught out of bed, out after curfew and out of bounds by the two Head Students.

* * *

The night was lovely. Frank took her to a fancy restaurant in wizarding London and they ate a pretty meal and everything was perfect … except it wasn't.

Alice re-entered the castle wishing she had never left it in the first place. She wished it was twenty-four hours ago and everything was still the same as it had always been.

The dorm was quiet when she entered, Lily's bed was empty but then she did think she heard faint laughter from the corridor where the Heads Office is. At least someone was having a nice Valentine's Day. Alice stripped her clothes, her cloak thudding against the floor but Alice ignored it and went to the bathroom.

Turning the water on hot, she stepped into the shower and attempted to just wash the entire day away as though the water could clean her life as easily as it cleaned the sidewalk. It didn't but it was a nice delusion … at least until the water went cold and someone was knocking on the door.

"Al?" Ella's voice asked. "Is that you?"

"Y-Yeah," Alice's voice shook from the cold and she noticed the goosebumps on her arms.

"How long have you been in there?"

She really couldn't say. It had been hours. The grey light was creeping through the windows and Alice knew she should be tired and yet, she wasn't. She was wide awake.

"I'm finishing up now," Alice called back.

She stood, shaking from the cold water hitting her and turned the tap off. She pulled a fluffy towel around her and stepped out of the shower and out of the bathroom.

"Merlin, Al! Your lips are blue."

Alice grabbed her wand from off the floor where she'd dropped it the previous night and placed a warming spell on herself.

"Hot water is out," was all Alice said before climbing into her bed and shutting the curtains.

* * *

Lily rolled over, expecting to land on James but found nothing but cool blankets and mattress. She opened one eye and sure enough, the bed was empty. She pushed the curtain open and looked around the quiet dormitory. His sport shoes were missing. The rain pelted against the window and how she ended up with such a stupid boyfriend, she did not know because only stupid people elected to go running at six in the morning when it was raining this fiercely. She nestled back into the pillows, letting the music of the rain lull her back into sleep.

By the time she woke again, James was nestled into her, freshly showered and _warm_. No evidence to suggest he'd been doing something as ridiculous as running in torrential weather. She smiled softly and brushed a damp lock out of his eyes.

"You're insane," she whispered. "Absolutely insane."

"Mm not."

She giggled softly. "You so are."

"Gotta keep my strength," he mumbled without even opening his eyes, "Game."

She shook her head. That bloody Quidditch game was all he ever went on about lately and she'd be lying if she didn't say she'd be glad when the blasted game would be over and done with.

"You're still insane," she told him, checking her watch. It was her birthday and Valentine's day gift — James' excuse at buying her an obscenely expensive gold watch though it was pretty and Lily may love it more than James. The band was a thin, flat rope with an oval face attached — really it was quite a simple watch but there was just something about it that Lily adored even if it was telling her she had already missed breakfast. She sighed and kissed his nose. "Time to get up. We've already missed breakfast."

"Table."

She pushed the curtain open and grinned at the chocolate chip muffin on the bedside table. She kissed him on the nose again. "You still gotta get up." She broke a piece off the muffin and stuffed it in her mouth. "Mmm."

His arms snaked around her, pulling her under him as he nuzzled his face into her neck. "Let's skip."

"Absolutely not!" Lily declared still chewing. "Come on, insane person. Up."

"Too loud," he groaned, as she rolled them over so she was on top. She pressed soft kisses to his mouth.

"A hangover and waking up at six a.m. Will do that to you. If you were normal, like me, and slept in, you'd feel better."

James groaned and pulled her down, hugging — squashing — her to him.

"James!" she groaned. "We gotta get up."

"You're killing me," he mumbled into her neck and she laughed.

"You're killing _me_!" she corrected. "We're gonna be late!"

"I don't want to go to Potions."

"Too bad you have to."

She tried to get up but his grip was like a vice and she grumbled, "You're half asleep, why are you so bloody strong?"

He smirked and she narrowed her eyes. "Skip with me."

"Get up," she demanded. "Look, even Sirius is up!" She gestured to Sirius' empty bed.

"He's not hungover," James argued.

"James," Lily deadpanned. "Let me up."

"Lily," James mimicked her tone. "No."

She fought to shake out of his arms to no avail. "James," she complained in a whining tone.

"Stay in bed," he pleaded.

"James," she said exasperated. "I'll bite you."

"Oh, kinky. I like it."

Lily clucked her tongue. "You're not even sleeping anymore! You may as well get out of bed."

He rolled them over again and grinned, "Nope. I like it right here."

She bit her lip, "You're infuriating. And insane."

He swooped down to kiss her, letting his lips linger. "So many thing we could do right here…" James tempted, moving his kisses down her neck.

"So many things," she said, "To learn in Potions." She pushed him off, using her legs to keep him at bay. She climbed off the bed taking several steps back. "Get dressed. Meet me in fifteen."

"You might need an extra five minutes for that hair!" James called after her as she reached the door.

She felt her hair and sure enough, it was in all sorts of knots and tangles. "Sod off!" she shouted back. "Fifteen minutes!"

* * *

Helena sat down next to James quite unexpectedly and James greeted her with her last name.

"No friends, James?"

"They ditched me," James sighed. "The woes of being the last one to finish my Charms essay. I thought we agreed Sunday?"

"We did," she agreed. "I just wanted to make sure that we'll be okay working together, you know with what happened during summer and all."

"Yeah, I'm good if you are."

Helena smiled dazzlingly, "Perfect."

"James Potter?" a nervous boy asked and James and Helena both turned to see a small first year holding a piece of parchment in his hands. "This is f-for you."

James took the parchment the boy held out to him and thanked him before reading it quickly. James had received a summons to Professor Dumbledore's office via a nervous first year and James did wonder why Dumbledore bestowed these menial tasks to nervous firsties — the prospect of having to send a message from their Headmaster to the Head Boy clearly terrified them.

"What is it?" Helena asked.

"Meeting with Dumbledore." James swore. "I was supposed to meet Lily for dinner."

"I can tell her," she offered.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all. I was just about to head to the Great Hall anyways."

"Legend," James praised, already starting to pack up his things.

After being seated in the Headmaster's office, James asked, "I'm not in trouble, am I Professor?"

"No, Mr Potter, not at all. Rather, I've summoned you to talk about your future."

"My future?" James asked furrowing his brows. "I already had my meeting with Professor McGonagall." It was quite illuminating. She had asked James what he wished to do for his career, he said professional Quidditch player and she nodded her head in approval and said, "I'll contact some scouts to attend the next Quidditch match." If James' heart had stopped in that moment no one would know but James and he'd never tell — it totally, one hundred percent did though.

"Of course, I merely wish to follow up on her notes and gather some insight."

"Right, er, of course."

"Professor McGonagall informed me that you intend to go on to play professional Quidditch."

"That's correct," James confirmed, wondering why on earth Dumbledore would even be slightly interested in this yet alone enough to summon James to his office for a private conversation.

"You possess the talent," Dumbledore encouraged or complimented, James really couldn't tell. "What are your plans to help the war effort?"

James was stunned. "I — I mean I want to help, of course I do."

"Yet you don't want to become an Auror."

James furrowed his brows. "I mean, I thought about it but I didn't want to be an auror before the war so I reckon I shouldn't want to be an auror now just because there's a war."

"But you want to help."

James nodded. "Yes."

"Like you helped at Flamel Hall on New Year's Eve?"

James cocked his head ever so slightly and said, "Yes," once more.

"Would I then be correct in assuming you are willing to fight for the cause even if you don't want to fight for the Ministry?"

James ran a hand through his hair and nodded. "Yeah, yeah I suppose if the opportunity came, I would fight."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "And what about your friends, Miss Evans, Mr Black, Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew?"

"Er, I mean I can't speak for them but as far as I know, they'd be interested in fighting."

Dumbledore nodded and stood. "Thank you, Mr Potter. This conversation was most illuminating."

 _Was it?_ James thought because honestly he had more questions than answers at this point. "Of - of course," James agreed. "Thank you, Professor." Though what he was thanking the Headmaster for completely escaped him.

* * *

Lily did not like to be made a fool of, especially by people who she was already inclined not to like, such people included Helena Bonham. You see, Lily Evans liked to think she was a good girlfriend. She and James agreed on all the important stuff and she woke up at the crack of dawn to help him get his fitness back up to what it once was. They had sex often and it was pretty mind blowing — Lily didn't think she'd ever get over sex with James. They told each other everything. They were solid. So Lily liked to think she was a good girlfriend.

And she was. I mean which other girlfriend would arrange secret meetings with their boyfriend's best friend to organise the biggest party Hogwarts has ever seen for said boyfriend's birthday? Not a lot so Lily maintained she was a good girlfriend. It was at one of these secret meetings where things started going awry.

James had needed to go to the library to finish an essay and Lily and Sirius took this as their perfect opportunity to actually plan his birthday party, even though it was over a month away so they agreed to meet for dinner. Only he didn't show for dinner.

Lily waited patiently for five minutes and then ten minutes and then fifteen minutes before she started questioning his absence out loud.

"Where is he?" Lily said anxiously. James wasn't the type to keep her waiting — even when she didn't know she was waiting for him.

"Probably got caught up," Sirius suggested, the first time.

A few minutes passed.

"Seriously, where is he? I'm hungry," she complained.

"I'm sure he won't mind if you eat," Alice said from across the table where she was pushing the food around on her own plate with her fork, "It's not like you're married."

Lily furrowed her brows wondering what marriage had to do with eating food. "You all right, Al?"

She nodded.

Lily ate half her food and then asked the golden question again, "Where the hell is James?" right when Helena Bonham walked passed her table.

"Oh, you don't know?" Helena asked.

"Know what?" Lily asked, a million possibilities, and none of them good, running through her mind.

"He's in a meeting with Dumbledore."

"Oh." A meeting with Dumbledore hadn't been one of her possibilities and she was caught off guard. "How do you know?"

Helena shrugged. "He told me."

"I thought you guys weren't meeting until Sunday."

"We bumped into each other in the library. He was doing an essay."

"Right," Lily nodded and everything would have been fine. It really would've if Helena had just decided to walk on but instead she asked, "He really didn't tell you?" with a pitying look before walking away.

Lily turned back to her friends. "Please tell me someone saw that!"

"What?" Sirius asked.

"That - that pitying look she gave me like I should be worried that James didn't tell me about the meeting with Dumbledore."

Sirius shrugged. "She seemed fine to me."

But it didn't take long for rumours to start flying. Rumours claiming that Lily had 'grilled' _poor_ Helena on the whereabouts of James and made Lily seem like some sort of pathetic girlfriend who couldn't trust her boyfriend with an ex-girlfriend — if you could even call Helena that.

* * *

"Animals," Lily changed the topic. "Muggle and magic. Go."

"Niffler."

"Rhino."

"Occamy."

"Yeti."

"Imp."

"Pig."

"Gnome."

"Elephant."

"Troll."

"Lion."

"Nundu."

"Unicorn."

"I didn't realise Potter would be joining," Fortescue ruined their fun and Lily's smile faded ever so slightly as James whispered, "Newt."

Lily nudged him but said quietly, "Thunderbird," before addressing her ex-boyfriend. "James is actually meeting with Bonham for their assignment. There weren't a lot of tables left so we thought we'd share."

Andrew, unable to fight her logic as the library was rather full, took a reluctant seat opposite Lily and James just as Bonham approached the table.

"Sorry I'm a little late," she gushed sitting in the seat next to Andrew and opposite James. She smiled warmly and said to James, "Shall we start?"

Lily glanced at Helena unable to find a fault in the girl other than her pretty shade of blonde bangs fell into her gorgeous eyes but Lily's gut knew that Helena Bonham was not a girl Lily should trust.

"So I was thinking we could do the report on the Venemous Tantacula since we covered it last year," Andrew suggested, grabbing Lily's attention.

"Oh, actually I rather hoped to do it on Sleeping Snare."

"We haven't even covered that in class yet," he argued.

"I know but there are plenty of books in the herbology section and I think it'd really impress Professor Postumus if we do a plant we haven't covered in class yet."

"Just because you've been failing classes since break doesn't mean we all have been. I want this assignment easy as possible."

Lily stiffened at Andrew's remark as James glanced at her. She'd made up all her marks in extra credit projects and with Sirius' help had managed to keep that she'd been starting to fail quiet from James.

"What do you think, James?" Helena asked, bringing James' attention back to whatever conversation they'd been holding.

Lily replied to Andrew, "Fine. Venemous Tentacula. I'll do the analysis on benefits and impacts to society and the ways it can be defeated. You can do the introduction, description — with a diagram — since you want this assignment as _easy_ as possible." She grabbed her pile of books leaning over to James telling him she'd be in the common room before leaving the library all together.

Before Fortescue could leave, James leaned on the table. "What did you mean failing?"

"What?"

"You said Lily's been failing."

"She didn't tell you," he realised, "At least I know why she was so pissed."

"She's pissed because you're a dick," James clarified. "And what do you mean she's been failing? Her marks are fine."

Helena nodded, "I heard from Polly who heard from Cecilia Paris who overheard Black telling Bennett that he was helping snap Lily out of it."

"Out of what?" James asked.

"Isn't she your girlfriend?" Fortescue asked sourly.

"Out of what?" James repeated.

"She was a bit," Helena pursed her lips for a bit, "Like depressed or something. Black and her made a scene one morning in front of the Great Hall. Oh, and then there was the whole rain incident that rumours have it, say that Black instigated and people are saying it had something to do with Lily but no one knows what exactly."

James nodded, "Right, 'course. Uh, so we're set to do the report on those cool gravity resistant trees?" James asked.

"Yeah, absolutely."

"Brill," James found himself saying and then shook his head. Lily's slang had creeped up on him. "Uh, I'll do benefits and impacts to society, conclusion and description."

"And I'll do the remainder. Meet up next week, same time?"

"Yeah, brill," he said again and picked up his books. "See you later."

With that he too left the library and didn't stop walking until he spotted Lily in the common room by the fire. She spotted him back and slumped as he approached.

"You were failing," he stated.

"It was nothing," Lily insisted.

"You don't fail, Lils."

"I know, I just I couldn't focus and I didn't want to but-"

"Why didn't you want to?"

Lily sighed. "I don't really want to talk about this again. Sirius already chewed me out — multiple times — and I'm fine."

"I'm not Sirius and I'm also your boyfriend which is my next question. Why didn't you write me about this?"

"I — you were basically learning to walk again, James and it was nothing. I was just unfocused and I didn't see the point in classes and everything. I just — I had a bad few weeks but they've passed and I'd really rather not talk about it."

"What about the rain incident?"

Lily clicked her tongue. "How did you find out about that?"

"Bonham."

"Glad to see you two are getting so friendly," Lily snapped.

"Lils, you know it's not like that. I was grilling her for information and she's a natural gossip."

"Well, what'd she say about it?"

"That Sirius instigated it and that it had something to do with you — and if rain incident means what I think it means, don't tell me it was nothing because clearly it wasn't nothing."

"I was trying to sneak out. I took the map and the cloak and I was going to sneak out. Sirius found out, did what he did best and made a diversion, found me and talked me out of it."

"You wanted to sneak out. To go where? Lily, we're in war! How could you think about doing something so stupid and if the teachers found out, you'd be expelled! What the hell would you want to sneak out for?"

She looked down and said softly, "To see you."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"It was still dumb."

"I know."

"And stupid."

"I know."

"And incredibly dangerous."

She took his hands. "I know James. You don't have to worry. I'm fine."

"But you weren't and you didn't — you didn't tell me."

She pushed his hair off his face and smiled softly, "I didn't want you worrying about me. I wanted you to worry about getting better. Besides," she smiled softly, "I had the best guard dog."

James grinned back and said, "That's true and speaking of animals, demiguise."

Lily leaned back with laughter and retorted, "Eel."

"Leopard."

"Dog."

"Grindylow."

"Walrus."

"Snake."

"Echidna."

And the game went on.

* * *

"All right, Lupin," Marlene said in an all business voice. "I need to get an 'O' in Herbology to qualify for healer training and I intend to get it."

"Okay," Lupin said slowly.

"I've narrowed our choices down to the gravity resistant trees, the Sleeping Snare or the Blue Bush."

"How about you choose?" Lupin suggested quite wisely.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"Let's go with Sleeping Snare."

"I'll go get us some books so we can start." Lupin got up and left Marlene alone at the table in the library. The table in front of her had Lily and James seated opposite Fortescue and Bonham and if that wasn't one awkward table, Marlene didn't know what was. Marlene shuddered at the thought of her and Nate sharing a table with Mia.

"Okay, these are the most notable books about them," Lupin dumped a stack of three books on the counter.

"That was fast."

"Used Lily's spell that searches for books under certain key words."

Marlene huffed, "I could never get that to work for me."

"Took a bit of practice," Remus admitted. "Dead handy though. Shall we start?"

"Yes," Marlene agreed grabbing the first book and flicking it open.

They were reading for not even ten minutes when Lily made a distracting exit from the library and Marlene glanced at Lupin who was looking at Lily.

"You gonna give me the goss on that?" Marlene gestured.

"What goss?"

Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on, you, Peter, Sirius and James are thicker than a pair of girls who've made a blood promise to tell each other everything."

"Girls do that?" Remus said aghast.

"My point is, you know what's going on there."

"I may know some of it … but, I'll need a trade."

"A trade," Marlene grinned, "Remus Lupin I didn't know you were such a gossiper!"

"Do we have a deal?"

"I've got something," Marlene admitted. "But you first."

"James snogged Helena Bonham during the summer. Andrew and Lily used to date. I'm guessing there's some tension."

"Oh come on, you have to know more. I mean, Lily's convinced that Bonham hates her."

"All I know is that Helena herself started the rumours."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I have my ways. She told Piggens who told everyone else. Now, your piece of gossip, please."

Marlene wagged her brows, "I found a ring box in the dormitory."

"A ring box?"

"I looked at the ring … it was an engagement ring."

Remus looked surprised. "Whose was it?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It was on the floor the morning after Valentine's Day."

"That's like half a gossip."

"So was yours," she retorted.

"You owe me more."

"But I knew most of what you told me."

"And I just want you to confirm something," Remus said innocently.

"Name your price."

"Ella's thoughts on Sirius."

Marlene narrowed her eyes. "Why? What's Sirius said?"

"You first."

"She's maintaining just friends but we all think she fancies him. What's Sirius said?"

"Not much though he's been distracted ever since she started avoiding him."

"Interesting."

"Quite," he agreed.

And so a new friendship formed in that library that day, the one of Remus Lupin and Marlene Adams. Of course, if you asked them they'd say they've been friends for seven years but this was when it truly started, bartering for gossip in the library when they should've been writing an essay, a whole six and a half years after knowing each other.

* * *

Ella sat down next to Sirius at the common room table and crossed her arms grateful that Peter had enough tact to make himself scarce. She really had wanted to avoid this but it had to be said and he had to hear it. After all, her avoiding him had nothing to actually do about _him_ and it sounded so cliche but it was the truth. Ella avoiding Sirius had everything to do with what Alice had said about Ella fancying him and it was stupid and not fair.

"Okay, I was avoiding you," she said straight off the bat.

"Why?" He got straight to the point and Ella liked that about him.

"Alice thinks we like, _like_ each other which is completely ridiculous because we're just mates and even though I told myself I wouldn't let it get to me, it did and it's completely stupid because you're my best friend and there're things I need to tell you because you're my best friend — I mean, Marlene is too but she has Nate now and, I don't know, you like always know what to say to make me feel better and right now I could use something to make me feel better."

Sirius was struck dumb from the word vomit he'd just heard and the twist in his stomach it had caused. _Best friend_ she'd said but he didn't want her like a best friend. But they were mates first before anything and everything else so he held his mouth shut.

"Besides we've got to do that stupid Herbology project," Ella said breaking the silence.

Sirius nodded, "Yeah so," he paused, "What's been going on with your brother?"

A decidedly safe, much safer, topic, because she was right, they were mates, good mates and he didn't want to ruin that by telling her he sometimes thought about snogging her in a broom closet.

Her worrying about her brother was something he could handle so he listened as she explained very vaguely about the Order of The Phoenix and how her brother was tight lipped on the whole thing.

Sirius shrugged, "Can't say I blame him. If Dumbledore asked me to join a super secret organisation that kicked Death Eater butt, I'd join in a heartbeat."

"Really?"

"Are you kidding me? It would make my mother so angry and I'd get to hex Bellatrix and say it's for the 'greater good'."

Ella shook her head at his reasoning. "That's barbaric."

Sirius smirked. "You know what's truly barbaric? You cared what Alice Vance thought."

Ella hit him and said, "Piss off. She got in my head with her knowing smirks and I just-" Sirius couldn't help his laughter and she hit him again. "You're a right prat, Sirius Black."

 _Your prat_ , he thought. "Don't you forget it."

* * *

"Oh, James!" Helena called from across the hall. She jogged over to him and landed her hand on his arm. "I was hoping to catch you!"

James took half a step back, she took half a step closer. "What's up?"

"I know we said we'd do our sections and then put them together at the end but I just want to make sure we're both on the right page so I was hoping we could meet tomorrow to see what we've got so far."

"Oh, uh, tomorrow's actually not good. Lily and I are heading out to the pitch after classes before the Hufflepuff's have training."

"You can't do after?"

"I've got homework to do," James explained.

"You couldn't re-arrange with Lily?" she suggested, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

"I can't. Lily's got me on a strict flying schedule," he said fondly.

"Oh, I hope she's not overworking you. It'd be a shame if you were to burn out in the match against Hufflepuff — you know, except it wouldn't."

James laughed. "Lily's actually slowing me down. If I had it my way, I'd be in the air every second I could. She was sick of losing me to the pitch so she made me a schedule and helps me train — get my stamina back up since the, er, incident."

"She sounds supportive," Helena said and though she smiled, she didn't seemed quite so supportive of the fact that Lily was a supportive girlfriend.

"Look, I'm sorry, I can't meet up tomorrow but the next day we can meet up after classes."

Her smile widened and she almost purred, "Perfect."

"Great," James agreed. "I'll meet you in the library."

"It's a date," Helena agreed before practically skipping off and before James even had time to reflect on Helena's choice of words for their study plans, Alice appeared next to him.

"She likes you," Alice noted once Helena was out of ear shot.

"What's not to like?"

"No, I mean she wants to shag you, likes you."

"The only person I'm interested in shagging is Lily," James told her.

"I'm just warning you that Bonham has other intentions besides doing a Herbology assignment with you. I mean, seriously? It's a date? No one says that about assignment meet-up plans."

James ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks for the heads up. You seen Lily?"

"She forgot something in the dorm. She said she'd catch up."

* * *

"Her mum just died, Ella," Marlene reminded her as if anyone needed reminding. "She's allowed to have a few bad days."

"She's been like this since she came back from her date with Frank on Valentine's Day. That was over a week ago!" Ella argued. "People don't shower until the hot water runs out and then sit in it cold for hours."

"You don't know it was hours," Lily pointed out.

"Her lips were _blue_ — they may as well have been ice!"

"I think you're exaggerating," Marlene said.

"It was dark and you were half asleep," Lily added. "It was probably just a shadow."

"Oh, what would you two slags know? You weren't even in the dorm that night."

"Don't hate just because we had better places to be," Lily wagged her finger.

"Better people to shag," Marlene coughed under her hand, correcting Lily. "I mean, you've got a perfectly good bloke to shag if you just admitted-"

Ella rolled her eyes. "Oh please! Can we not make this about whatever you nutters think is going on between Black and I? Can we focus? This is about Alice," Ella reminded them desperately but Lily was checking her watch and Marlene was reading yet another information pamphlet titled _Healer Training Entry Requirements_.

"I gotta go. Need to meet James at the pitch."

"See you," Marlene farewelled as Lily pushed pamphlets into her own bag and left. "I really, really need to pick up my Herbology marks," Marlene said glumly. "You need an 'O' and I'm averaging at an 'E'."

"Oh, shut up about NEWTs for five minutes," Ella demanded. "Something is wrong with Alice."

Marlene _tsk_ ed. "Ella, it's called grief. If she wants space just give her some space. Do you really think no one had questions about your black eye at New Years? Of course, the girls asked but I told them not to bugger you about it because you didn't need them poking their noses where it doesn't belong," Marlene said firmly. "Just let Alice alone. If she wants to let you in, she will."

Ella stood up furiously and walked away. No matter what Marlene said, Alice wasn't grieving — well, she was but the state she'd been in since Valentine's Day wasn't because of grief — something _happened_. Ella just knew it.

* * *

"James!" Helena approached the Gryffindor table where the group was eating lunch and James sighed. He'd met up with her only two days earlier and they did five minutes of work before Helena trapped him into talking. It wasn't even interesting talk, it was mostly small talk about what they wanted to do after school but then rumours had flown about them having a friendly study date.

Lily was taking it like a champ but James — not so much. Of course, he was happy that Lily wasn't getting mad but this wasn't something she should have had to deal with in the first place.

"Oh, Lily," Helena said as though surprised to see the two seated together. James grabbed Lily's hand on the table. "Do you mind moving over, Lily? I need to show James something about the Herbology assignment."

Before Lily could make her own remark, Sirius who was sitting on the other side of Lily jumped in and said, "I mind, actually."

Helena frowned. "Why?"

"Well, for Lily to move over, I have to move over which means Remus has to move over and he's having a lovely conversation with Marlene who's seated directly opposite him and it would completely throw off the table dynamic. Wouldn't you agree, Moony?"

"Completely," Remus agreed, before jumping back into whatever he and Marlene were talking about.

"Don't forget that James gets rather nauseas when he doesn't meet his Lily quota for the day," Ella reminded him.

"Nauseas?" Helena questioned and Lily covered her laughing mouth with her hand, trying to stifle it.

"Sirius complains about it all the time," Ella shook her head.

"Yeah, when James doesn't get enough of his Lily-Flower he just starts vomiting all over the place, right Moony?"

"Right," Remus agreed again, stopping mid-sentence to Marlene before continuing where he left off.

"Merlin, Lils," James exclaimed, "I don't know why you're still with me."

"So high maintenance," she agreed, before turning to Helena. "You can sit." She stood up, trailing her hand up James' arm and snaking her arms around his shoulder, resting her chin on his shoulder so her mouth was by his ear. "Hurry up so we can meet a different kind of quota," she whispered suggestively in his ear, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

She winked at him before turning and leaving and James' brain had turned to mud as he watched her all but skip down the Great Hall, taking no notice of Helena taking Lily's seat.

Almost absently he asked, "What'd you want?" to Helena.

"Oh right," she said. "I wanted to invite you to my birthday. It's the weekend after the match, we're having a party in the Hufflepuff common room."

"I thought you wanted to show me something about the assignment," James pointed out.

"No, I didn't."

Sirius rolled his eyes over Helena's head and James shook his head. "Well, that's — okay. I gotta go," James checked his watch. "Something is urgently waiting — I mean there's someone urgent I need to — I mean, I've got quotas to meet." James hastily stood and made his escape out of the Great Hall, leaving Helena at the Gryffindor table where James kind of hoped Sirius would make her cry like he made Mia Scott cry.

"Merlin, took you long enough." Lily pulled him into her as soon as he entered the Entrance Hall.

James wrapped his arms around her, lowering his lips to hers. "She's more annoying than a fucking flickering light."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Nice metaphor."

"It's apt," he told her seriously before pulling her closer and lowering his voice, "Now, I remember you mentioning something about quotas to meet…"

* * *

James paced in front of his teammates.

"We've got this," he told them, "Our name has been on the cup the last four years in a row and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be on it this year! We are an excellent team! You are all freaks of nature and we've trained harder than ever before. We've got this!"

"James, calm down," Bennett said, "It's Hufflepuff."

"That means nothing," James said firmly. "Rogers has put together the strongest team I've ever seen from Hufflepuff. They beat Ravenclaw and only lost by ten points to Slytherin. Do not underestimate them. Podmore, if you see that snitch, go for it but only if we are up by thirty. Roberts and Bell, I want you distracting any active players but no fouls. We don't want there to be any reasons for them to score easy goals. Peverell, the Blake chasers mostly favour the right hoop but don't neglect the other two, Alex Blake likes to feint and Daniel Blake likes to charge at the hoops only throwing the quaffle from five meters away — don't call his bluff. Stick to the hoops."

"We know how to play, Potter," Bennett said, "You trained us well."

"Right and chasers," he said, pausing for a moment, "I know I've been fine in practice and training but … if I start to lag behind, you don't think, you just go."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're doing triple loops, I think your flying is fine, Prongs."

"Shut it, Black." James turned to the team, "Let's go win us a trophy."

"And if any of you cost us this game, I'll personally hang you upside down off the chandelier in the Entrance Hall," Sirius threatened and the team laughed.

They trudged off onto the pitch, holding their brooms. The Gryffindors in the stands went wild and James smiled when he saw the poster of a lion knowing that Lily was sitting in the crowd there. The wind was ferocious and James was worried, when flying they'd have to adjust flying courses and throw the quaffle harder.

James shook hands with the Hufflepuff captain and then resumed their positions. Mister Jacobs blew the whistle and James kicked off hard. Sirius caught the quaffle and threw it to James who threw it back to Sirius who threw it to Adaline who scored!

"Brilliant first shot by Adaline Bennett!" Chris Abott commentated, "Potter intercepted the quaffle! Doges a bludger from Bones! Passes the quaffle to Black, Bennett, back to Potter and SCORE! Gryffindor up by twenty to zero!"

The crowd went wild with screams and James quickly stole a look to where he knew Lily would be — the lion on the poster roaring — and a red head cheering behind it.

"G Blake off with the quaffle, passes to A Blake, passes to AND INTERCEPTED BY BENNETT! Bennett passes to Potter, to Black, back to Bennett, to Potter and he SCORES!"

Just as the quaffle had left his finger tips a bludger hit his shoulder from behind. At the same time, a gust of wind blew against him, James grabbed his broomstick firmly to keep his balance.

"All right, Prongs?" Sirius asked flying past him. James shot him a thumbs up as he rolled his shoulder. Pain shot through it but he decided he could play through it. He could do this. The pain in his shoulder would still be there after the game.

"Potter seems to be having trouble with that left arm after Bean aimed a bludger at him," Abott commentated. "But he's flying down the pitch determined to get the quaffle out of Hufflepuff hands. Roberts aims a bludger at D Blake, who swerves to miss it but drops the quaffle! Black and Blake race after it AND BLACK CATCHES IT! Black zooms down the pitch and he shoots and HE SCORES! GRYFFINDOR IS UNSTOPPABLE TODAY!"

"And Blake is off with the quaffle, passes to A Blake, passes to G Blake and narrowly misses a bludger, passes back to D Blake who shoots and SCORES! The Blake brothers are keen to prove their power today!"

James flew over to Lottie Podmore, "Catch the snitch. Now. I don't know how long I can play with this arm." Before flying back to where Adaline and Sirius were passing the ball.

"Black passes to Potter, who streamlines down the field and then passes to Bennett who shoots and SCORES! The score is eighty to twenty! Can Hufflepuff catch up?"

The Gryffindor stands go crazy and James high fives Sirius, before they streak down the field to try to get the ball off of Hufflepuff. Just as Sirius intercepted a pass and gained possession of the quaffle, James noticed Podmore and Rogers bolting towards the left goal hoops.

"DEAN AIM A BLUDGER AT BONES!" James yelled out as he noticed Jasper Bones getting ready to aim a bludger at Podmore. "LIZ AIM ONE AT ROGERS!"

They followed his orders and with the Hufflepuff's distracted by the two well aimed bludgers, Lottie caught the snitch and-

"GRYFFINDOR WIN!"

That was all James heard before a bludger he saw too late smacked into his head.

* * *

Frank loved Quidditch. James Potter had fallen off his broom and that was all Alice could think. He'd have been talking about this game for days. For the first time since Valentine's Day — only a small month prior — she pulled out Frank's gift, also known as The Unbearable Weight from her pocket and opened the small box.

It was gorgeous. A round cluster of diamonds on a yellow gold band, simple yet flashy, understated but beautiful. She closed it quickly as the thought of putting it on ran through her mind. It was ridiculous. She was seventeen. People who are seventeen don't try on engagement rings. People who are seventeen count themselves lucky to have a boyfriend let alone think about getting married.

And the proposal was terrible. Alice could not have taken it worse.

 _"Marry me."_

 _Alice froze. "W-what?"_

 _"Marry me," he repeated and as if Alice's heart needed another reason to stop, Frank pulled out a ring box. "I've been thinking about this a lot and-"_

 _"Stop!" Alice shook her head. "Stop this is lunacy! Completely and irrevocably crazy! We're not even in our twenties! I haven't even finished school and you want to get married! Why don't you ask for a baby while you're at it!"_

 _He grabbed her hands and looked her square in the eye. "You haven't seen the things I've seen, Alice. The world is cruel and - and lives are cut short too soon and the only thing I've learned is that I don't know a damn thing about the world. I don't know who will win the war. I don't know how many more people will die for this. I don't know when it'll end." He licked his lips. "But I can tell you what I do know. I know that I love you. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know that life's too short to wait. So marry me, Al."_

 _"I don't," Alice shook her head her brain unable to comprehend. "I'm seventeen!"_

 _"That's not an answer."_

 _"I - I - I — This is crazy! You're crazy!" Alice shouted pushing him away. "W-Why? Why would you ask me this? I haven't even finished school! I — I don't even know where this came from! Was this your mother's idea?"_

 _"Alice," Frank said incredulously, "I wouldn't propose to you because my mum wants me to."_

 _"Then why?" Alice asked fiercely._

 _"I love you and I want to be with you."_

 _"We don't have to be married to be together! Frank!"_

 _"So you're saying no," he said._

 _"What did you honestly expect, Frank?" she asked before cursing, "Damn it!" she shouted slapping him. "Damn you!" She shoved him away._

 _"For loving you?"_

 _"No!" she shouted, pushing her hair back. "For proposing!" The water works were going to start. She was newly familiar to the sensation and she had a minute maybe two before the tears really came on._

 _"Is it really such a terrible idea?"_

 _"Se-ven-teen!" Alice spelled out. "I — I have to go. I've got Potions tomorrow morning."_

 _"Al," he grabbed her pulled her close and kissed her roughly and sweetly all at the same time and it was just her and Frank and she forgot what he had asked her until he pulled away. He shoved the box into her pocket and said, "Just think about it."_

She hadn't heard from Frank since, he was clearly giving her space but she could feel the pressure. The pressure to say yes to this crazy idea and he was miles away and no one but the two of them even knew he had proposed and that she'd freaked. She didn't think she was being unreasonable.

Marriage was something that had only ever come up in passing conversation. An understanding that one day, in the far future it would most likely happen. But not now, not at seventeen and still at Hogwarts. Her own parents hadn't married until they were twenty-four. It just wasn't normal to marry so young. They were still kids for Merlin's sake.

Alice hadn't even touched the fact that Frank had most likely joined the Order of the Phoenix. Didn't want to analyse why he could ask her to marry him but not tell her about the Order.

The dormitory door opened and Alice shoved the ring box under her blankets just as Lily walked in.

"Hey, I didn't know you were up here," Lily said, sitting on her own bed, not noticing that Alice had been in deep thought moments before.

"Yeah, just, uh, thinking. How's James?"

"Still hasn't woken up. Sirius sent me away to change my clothes." Now that Lily had mentioned it, Alice noticed the mud smeared all across her clothes. "You all right?"

"Hypothetically speaking," Alice said slowly, "If James were to propose right now … would you say yes?"

Lily looked up and studied Alice. "I never really thought about it."

 _Neither had I but here I am_ , Alice wanted to say. "But if he did?" she pressed.

"I think I'd say yes."

"You're eighteen!" Alice protested. "What about your future and aren't there things you want to do before you get married?"

Lily considered, "I know I am and as for my future, there's nothing I wouldn't be able to do if I was or wasn't married." Lily shrugged. "What's brought this on?"

"Nothing," Alice assured.

Lily dropped the subject and after showering and changing left Alice in the dormitory more confused about what she should do than before.

* * *

Lily almost collided with Helena Bonham on her way down to the kitchens and Lily frowned at the basket of sweets Bonham held with a massive envelope reading 'James' with a heart.

"Oh, Lily," Bonham said unenthusiastically and then, with a bit of a skip she asked, "How's James? I was just off to see how he is."

"He's still unconscious," Lily informed bluntly. "Madam Pomfrey isn't really allowing visitors right now. I can take that to him if you'd like."

"Oh I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will let me in for a moment to drop this off."

"He's only allowed two visitors and Sirius and I are already there."

Helena looked Lily up and down and said, "Well, you're not there right now. You don't mind if I pop in to drop this off. I mean, James and I are friends after all."

"Friends?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "You had a summer fling and then never spoke to each other again until you became assigned partners in a herbology assignment six months later."

"Oh, you know about, uh, _that_."

"Yes, I do. James told me." Slight lie but she didn't need to know that and James hadn't really hid it from her, he just hadn't thought to mention it.

"You don't need to feel threatened, Lily," Helena assured her and Lily raised an eyebrow. "I mean James has never held a girlfriend for longer than six months before and you're on what? Like month four now? So I'd say you have about two months before you should start to worry."

Lily laughed, "I'm not worried."

"Really?" she asked seeming genuinely surprised. "James will get over his infatuation with you soon enough like the other girls."

"Yes but none of those girlfriends were me," Lily retorted, hearing James' voice saying 'you're different … I love you' in her head like a mantra.

Helena rolled her eyes. "What makes you so special than all the other girls?"

Lily raised an eyebrow and then what came out of her mouth next, she really had no control over but it shut Helena freaking Bonham up and sent her running with her tail between her legs. She even gave Lily the gift basket.

Lily smiled triumphantly at her victory over Bonham before what she'd said really set in and then there was panic as she wracked her brains for any plausible reason why she said what she said.

She arrived at the Hospital Wing and still had found no good reason other than Helena Bonham being a twat and a tart. If this were the era where people were still titled as Philip the Great, Bonham would be Helena the Tarty Twat.

"Took you long enough," Sirius huffed. "Git still hasn't waken up though. What's that?" he nodded at the basket in her hand.

Lily nodded and then said, "I think I may have started a rumour."

"What kind of rumour?"

"The bad kind," Lily looked at him, and Sirius clicked his tongue impatiently.

"Come on, Evans. Spit it out."

"That me and James, that — Merlin, I should just say it. Okay, okay, um," Lily breathed in, "I may have told Helena Bonham that James and I are married."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello Everybody! Super long chapter tonight but I loved it too much to cut it down so I hope y'all like long chapters._

 _Please follow, fav and review! It really means a lot to me :)_

 _The next chapter is more than halfway done, it's mostly lighthearted though we do get a look at what life is like for Regulus - he won't be a regular POV character but I just feel like this is needed for a plot that happens way down the line._

 _As always, thank you so much for reading, especially since my chapters just seem to be getting longer and longer ... the next chapter is already over 7000 words, lord help me keep it to ten thousand since this chapter spectacularly failed and made it to just over 12000._

 _Thank you again! And sorry for being extra ramble-y tonight._

 _-Natalie xx_


	26. Chapter 25: Nifflers, Brawls & Surprises

There was no stopping it. To deny the rumour would be to admit defeat to Helena the Tarty Twat and Lily would rather die than do that. Of course it helped that Sirius thought the thing was entirely hilarious so it assuaged Lily's fears that James would be mad when he found out.

"Oh, if you're going to just be anxious the whole damn time, can you at least go get me some fudge?" Sirius complained.

"Food is where all this started!" Lily cried, quite insistent on the fact that if she hadn't needed to go to the kitchens for food the whole thing with Helena would have been avoided along with a certain rumour.

"Just go for a walk," Sirius insisted.

So Lily stood and said, "If the Tarty Twat comes by …"

"I'll tell her you're taking a pregnancy test and stopping for fudge."

Lily flipped him off before storming out of the Hospital Wing. It wasn't a bad rumour. Not really except for that fact that it wasn't true and she didn't want James to feel weird about it. Also, her friends and James would never let her live it down. Sirius was case point. But mostly she really hoped James didn't feel weird about it because that was the last thing she wanted.

"Lily!" Snape called trying to stop her as she turned into a corridor.

Perfect. Brill. Just what she needed at a time like this. Did he sense when her life was in shambles and decide to make it worse? Nothing she'd ever done or said in the past year and a half had signalled that she wanted him to approach her in the corridor after her idiotic boyfriend fell off a broomstick and there were rumours that she's married to said idiotic boyfriend, who's best mate is doing nothing to help the situation.

"I'm not in the mood, Snape." But he grabbed her arm and stood in front of her.

"Is it true?" he asked her softly. "You married him." She wondered how he managed to sound so betrayed.

Lily should've expected this. Helena Bonham couldn't keep a secret to herself if her life depended on it. The whole school would know within the hour — they probably already did know if it had already reached the Slytherins.

"Does it matter?"

"So you haven't."

"Whether I have or haven't isn't the point-"

"It's the only point!"

"Why?"

"If you married him, we would never have a chance."

"Have a …" she echoed with a bitter laugh, "Chance. Are you out of your fucking mind, Snape? Are you really that clueless about everything that's going on?"

"Potter's turning you - you don't really like him."

"Let me make something abundantly clear. No one is turning me against you, no one except yourself. You chose them. You chose the Death Eaters and Dark Magic and Voldemort."

"Lily-"

"I'm not finished!" she interrupted him. "Whether or not I'm married to James doesn't make a difference to our relationship because it is over. It's done. In the past and it's not because of James. If I really wanted to I could tell James that I want to mend my friendship with you and he wouldn't be happy about it but he'd let me because it is _my_ choice and what's more is he'd try to make nice with you if I asked him to. So don't you dare suggest that I don't really like James because I love him and you know what … even if we weren't already, we'd probably be married in the next five years."

She really needed to learn to shut her god damned mouth and because bad loved worse a voice called down the corridor behind her.

"So it's true you and Potter got hitched, is it?" Avery called from down the corridor. Snape went rigid and Lily rolled her eyes. Oh, the rumour was really snowballing now. Rolling down a bloody mountain.

"Despite your filthy blood, I do see the appeal," Mulciber said, trailing a finger up her arm as he walked around her to flank Snape and a shiver as cold as the icy water in the Great Lake went down her spine. "Though he has ruined any chances of the Potter name making it onto the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"You did always think she was pretty," Avery agreed, either not noticing or not caring that Snape was becoming more and more rigid with every word passed. "Mudbloods were made to be whores nothing more. No excuse to dirty blood-lines."

"How do you think your blood line started, genius?" Lily shot back at them, trying to step around but Avery blocked her.

"What was that, mudblood?"

"You heard me," Lily said confidently and when she tried to walk past them, Avery stepped in front of her once more. She tried to step around but he kept blocking her path. "Move, please."

"Were you trying to insinuate that I descended from a dirty, little mudblood?" he sneered.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well, not just you but all purebloods. I mean it would've happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago but there's no biological difference between people with magic and people without magic so in saying that … the first witch or wizard would have come from muggle parentage which then follows that all your family pride derived from a mudblood."

"I don't think this is something you can understand, but we derive from generations of magic folk."

"And I derive from generations of muggle folk and yet I can still whoop all of your arses in a duel. Please, move."

"What right do you think you have anyways? Marrying a pureblood," Mulciber spit on the floor next to her. "Right, Snape? You're just a dirty little whore and Potter will be done with you soon enough. Maybe then you could be my whore."

Lily looked at Snape as he stared at the floor. She reaffirmed what she knew all along. He was never going to be the friend she needed. He would never stick up for her — not against his mates anyways no matter what they said, even if it had her stomach twisting in knots. He would never deny that he agreed with all the pureblood bullshit. He would never be proud to have her standing beside him, though looking at him now, he didn't look so proud to have Avery and Mulciber flanking him. Lily wondered if he'd still look like that if it weren't her against them and if it was some other muggle-born. What if she had been Mia Scott or Mary MacDonald or Marlene?

Lily shoved her hand into her pocket, her shaky fingers grasping her wand so tightly her nails dug into her palms but the shakiness stopped so that counted for something.

"Let me through," Lily demanded in a firm tone, she didn't know how she stopped her voice from shaking but she was reminding herself that if she stroke, she needed to keep her hand light and fast, not rigid. She slackened her grip, slowed her breathing to slow the shaking and it was hard because she could feel it coming.

Her skin felt too hot and there wasn't enough air in this corridor but if it came here, if she couldn't think right now, she'd end up in a hospital bed next to James'. Snape certainly wouldn't stop them.

"Nah, I don't think we will," Mulciber smirked, slowly drawing his own wand out of his pocket as though if he did the movements slower Lily wouldn't notice. This was why he was failing Defence.

"Have it your way," Lily muttered darkly and a moment later her wand came slashing out of her pocket, her fingers light as she sent all three of them crashing to the floor with a simple freezing charm. "Maybe while you lay there, you can think about how your oh-so-superior blood did nothing to stop you from being hexed by a mudblood," Lily suggested sweetly as she stepped over their bodies and continued down the corridor as though nothing had happened but her hands shook and she was staving off the inevitable because she could definitely feel it now. She was already unwrapping her scarf from around her throat.

As soon as she turned the corner, she could feel her chest constricting and her cheeks flushed bright red. She shed her cloak leaving her in her red t-shirt and muggle jeans but it wasn't enough. She pushed her sleeves as high as they would go and slid her hair off the back of her neck.

Her free hand gnawed at her throat trying to scratch away something that wasn't there, as if to help her breathe. She was freaking out. Everything was a mess. James was unconscious, everyone thought they were married and some people were Death Eaters without the masks. Snape still thought Lily was going to wake up one day and be his friend again like it was miracle land and he still had one miracle left. Not to mention the words out of Mulciber's mouth had cloaked her in the most uneasy feeling she'd ever felt.

She needed to breathe. How had she stopped this last time? She hadn't. Remus had slapped sense into her. Maybe her body just needed a shock into thinking. She sent a stinging jinx at her foot and it worked.

She leaned against the wall and breathed in deeply letting her hand fall from her throat. She waited in that empty corridor until her skin had goose bumps on it and her breathing was back to its normal pace and then she out her cloak back on and went to the Great Hall.

There she stocked up on all of James, hers and Sirius' favourites, including fudge, where several people congratulated her on the marriage, some brave enough to congratulate her on her pregnancy which did nothing to help her post panic attack state. She kept calm though and left the Great Hall with a napkin transfigured into a picnic basket with the food she'd picked out in it.

* * *

"Remus! Just the person I was looking for!" Marlene sank into the couch next to Remus. "I have gossip."

"Do tell."

"The engagement ring is Lily's!" Marlene squealed. "Her and James got hitched and I mean I'm kind of mad that we didn't get an invite but at the same time how romantic! All elope-y and such a dream! And the ring is gorgeous — I haven't a clue why she doesn't wear it."

Remus raised a brow. "James would have told us if he's gotten married."

Marlene scoffed. "Pu-lease, James would stick a knife in any of you if Lily asked. They're hitched. I heard from Mary MacDonald who heard from Lola Stevens who heard from Irma Keddle who heard from Hannah Abbott who heard straight from Helena Bonham that Lily told her that her and James were married."

"Are we really trusting second-hand sixth year gossip over our almost seven year strong friendships?"

"You know, Remus, the gossip mill might exaggerate for the drama but there's usually a truth behind it. I'm telling you, they're married. It makes sense — look, usually I'd be skeptical but the ring, Remus, the ring!"

"They're not married," Alice sat pink faced next to Remus, wedging him between the two girls. "But I might be engaged."

Marlene leaned over to look at Alice and the little black box caught her eye in Alice's hand and her eyes almost popped out of her head.

"Might be enga-"

Alice clapped a hand over Remus' mouth, "Shh!" She removed her hand and sighed, "Can you two keep a secret?"

"If it's as juicy as I think it's going to be," Remus crossed his heart in demonstration and Marlene nodded profusely.

"Frank proposed."

"When?" was Marlene's automatic response.

"Valentine's Day," Alice winced.

" _Valentine's Day_?" Marlene exclaimed quietly in shock. "Holy cow, what'd you say?"

"I told him he was mad and that we were too young and I may have blamed his mother and — I freaked, okay, I freaked!"

"Low blow, Al, blaming the bloke's mother," Remus whistled.

"The whole thing was a low blow he barely had time to shove the box in my hand before I apparated away and then he hasn't owled me and I haven't owled him and it's all a big mess and I'm stuck with this," she held up the ring box.

"You've really kept him hanging for a month?"

"I know," Alice covered her face with her hands, "It's terrible but any time I think of saying yes I just, I can't."

"Do you want to say yes?" Remus asked with consideration.

"I - I don't know!" Alice said frustratedly. "I don't know. I'm seventeen."

"He's not going to wait forever, Al."

Alice paled. "I know but I just … the funny thing is I can imagine my whole life with Frank, I can — I do but I never imagined him proposing at seventeen."

"Does it make a lot of difference?" Remus asked.

"Of course it does!" Marlene spluttered.

"Oh come off it, realistically Al and Frank would be married within the next four to six years tops. What difference does it make if you have that little paper that makes it official four to six years earlier. You'll still be doing all the same things. You were planning to move in with him after Hogwarts. You're still going into the Auror Training program. He'll still be in Auror Training. I'm sure you'd spend the holidays together anyways and any vacations as well. You have the same group of friends. Does it really make much of a difference if you have the paper a little earlier?"

"But with marriage comes expectations," Marlene pointed out, "Not to mention responsibility."

"They'd already be living together what extra responsibilities would they have?" Remus deadpanned.

"Okay, expectations!" Marlene argued.

"Like?"

"Like babies. Settling in a house in the country."

"Not all married couples have kids straight away and I wager married couples with or without kids live in apartments in London."

"Maturity," Marlene continued. "Who's to say one of them won't wake up one day soon and think they've made a big mistake?"

"Yes, see that's the feeling!" Alice pointed at Marlene.

"Do you love Frank?" Remus asked Alice.

"Of course."

"Do you see any foreseeable issues that would cause you to regret your decision to marry him?"

"No, but-"

"No buts," Remus cut off. "Just do. You'll be much happier for it."

* * *

Lily walked in and he grinned.

"Hello, my beautiful wife," he greeted more confidently than he felt because honestly he didn't know what to expect. The last time he wound up in a hospital bed she yelled at him and Lily was usually pretty consistent.

"You're awake," she smiled softly and James frowned slightly.

She looked off. Her skin seemed paler than usual and she looked deep in thought. She wasn't yelling at him either and that was perhaps the final clue into the 'something is wrong' alarm bells in his head. "You okay, love?" he asked.

"Fine — better than the three musketeers of Slytherin anyways," Lily mumbled. "How're you feeling?"

"Perfectly fine, Pomfrey says I can leave tonight," he assured her and then, "Three musketeers?" he pressed.

"Muggle thing. I was referring to Snape, Avery and Mulciber."

"Snape?"

"Don't even get me freaking started, James," she shook her head and sat on the edge of his bed. He slipped his hand into hers and squeezed. "He still thinks that after all this time that we are going to break-up and I'll be his friend again. He's bloody mental — a child! He's a child. He thinks that you turned me against him! He's taking absolutely no responsibility for the choices he's made and then blaming you on top of it! You had nothing to do with him wanting to be a Death Eater. You didn't make him call me a mudblood in front of the whole school. You didn't make him hang out with those awful mates of his. He's honestly, he's just a child," she finished her rant with a sigh.

"He's a miserable muppet."

Lily quirked a brow, "How do you know what a muppet is?"

James sighed, "It's a long story that ends with Sirius, Peter and I standing on a stage with muggle sock puppets on our hands in front of a muggle crowd. But you said Avery and Mulciber were there?"

She sighed. "Yeah, after I finished yelling at Snape they showed and went on about," her cheeks flushed, "About things and I petrified all of them and left."

"Impressive. What were they going on about?"

"Oh, the usual — pureblood supremacy crap."

"I hope they didn't give you a hard time about us getting married."

Lily pulled a face and groaned. "Sirius told you?"

"That we're married? No, I remembered that for myself thanks, he just told me that everyone else had found out."

He watched as a million things ran through her mind and shook her head. "We aren't married."

"Sure we are and they say I'm the one who fell off a broom."

"James, knock it off."

"Do you really not remember the ceremony before the Christmas party my parents threw?" James asked but the gig was up as he felt himself smirking and she just rolled her eyes and lied down on him.

"You're a lousy liar."

"Only when I want to be."

"You won the match," she informed him.

"You told the whole school we're married."

"I told one person," Lily defended. "And I'm sorry. Really, I don't even know where it came from."

"You told Helena Bonham. You may as well have told the whole school. And I don't mind, not unless you're actually expecting a proposal."

"I'm not, definitely not. She was just being so annoying and saying that you were going to be done with me soon enough and urgh!" she groaned. "She was acting like we were already over and we're not."

"Not even close," James agreed, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head. "Not ever."

"James?"

"Yes, love?"

"I love you."

A smile tugged at his lips. "I love you, too."

She hugged him tighter and cast her eyes down not wanting to look at him as she said this next part. "No, I'm in love with you, like you're the one I want to get married to and have kids with."

"Is this a proposal because I rather thought that was my job."

She smiled, "No, I just want you to know that you're not allowed to leave me. Ever."

He kissed the top of her head again. "It's a non-issue."

"Not even death," she told him. "If you die before me, I'll be so mad at you."

"Even if we're two hundred and two?"

"Even if we're two hundred and two," she confirmed.

"Done. I'm with you until the end," James assured. "Now that that is sorted … you need to forgive him."

"Who?"

"Snape."

"I don't have to do anything."

"Lily."

"You hate him, hate him with me!"

"I hate him because he's my enemy. If I ever go missing and you have to fill out one of those missing persons forms at the Auror Office, where it says 'Enemies' you write 'Severus Snape'. But you," he sighed because he hated to bring it up, "you were his friend."

"I have forgiven him," she said. "I forgave my friend but I can't forgive what he's becoming. It's unforgivable."

"I've done some pretty unforgivable things and you forgave me."

"Because you grew out of it. You apologised for how you used to act and you _changed_ to prove that you were sorry. Snape — he'd apologise and the next day I would hear him refer to someone like me as a mudblood. He hasn't changed and he won't. He doesn't even see that he is in the wrong and that's unforgivable."

James nodded and Lily hugged him tighter.

"You all right?" he asked her.

She nodded, "I just hate it when you're in hospital."

* * *

It wasn't a big thing. Really, it wasn't. One morning, Lily and James had been talking and very discreetly glancing over at the Slytherin table where his brother was sitting. That's what had piqued Sirius' interest and so he asked.

"Has Reg done something?" he inquired, almost afraid of the answer because what if Regulus had done something? Regulus had made it very clear that Sirius wasn't his brother anymore and Sirius had put it out of his mind. Not because he didn't care but because as Regulus fell in deeper and deeper with the likes of the Snapes and Averys of the world, guilt chipped away at him.

"No," Lily said, "Don't worry about it. It's not about Regulus."

"What's it about then?"

James opened his mouth but Lily glared at him.

"It's just Sirius," James argued.

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed, "You're just going to tell him when I'm not here anyways. Go on."

"Mia Scott and Gabriel Lemaire are having secret shag sessions in various places and Lily is quite worried."

"What do you care?"

"We've been through this," Lily said. "Mia and I are friends."

"Okay well if you're such good friends why don't you tell her you don't think she should be dating a slime ball like Lemaire?"

"Because she doesn't know I know."

Sirius grinned. "And how do you know?"

"Valentine's Day patrols," James said. "Spotted them on the map."

"Interesting."

"No, it's not," Lily ranted. "It's downright stupid. He's dangerous. He hangs around with Rosier and Rookwood and I don't care what anyone says Rookwood is," Lily shook her head, "She's downright mean. I reprimanded her just last week because she was picking on a first year who was crying because her uncle had just died. I'm sorry, Sirius, I know her and your brother have a thing but-"

"They do?" Sirius asked, a little pride in his voice because even if it was someone as terrible as Beatrice Rookwood, his brother had gotten himself a girl.

"Boys," Lily shook her head. "Do you pay attention to anything?"

"Not really," Sirius said though he always thought he paid attention enough. After all, he paid enough attention to realise that Adams and McKinnon were a thing before they'd announced it. He realised that James chipper mood in the last months of sixth year were due to his disappearances where he was sure he'd been shagging a girl, he just couldn't figure out who.

Lily rolled her eyes again. "I just don't want her to get hurt."

So it wasn't that big of a deal when Sirius happened to come across Lemaire in a corridor near the dungeons. It also wasn't that big of a deal when Sirius stood directly in front of him and said, "You should leave Mia Scott alone."

"Who's Mia Scott?" Lemaire responded and Sirius gave him props for acting.

"Don't insult my intelligence," Sirius patted his shoulder. "You're going to leave Mia Scott alone."

"You know, you never were good at ordering people around," Lemaire sneered. "You never could get Reg to follow your rules."

"It's just a game for you," Sirius spat, not rising to the bait. "Leave her out of it."

"Why do you care anyways? Last I heard, you made her cry in front of the entire school."

"The brat was trying to break-up a couple. I don't like that kind of bullshit but she's a friend of Lily's and so I'm warning you, end it with her."

"What're you going to do, Black? Hex me?"

Sirius shrugged because honestly, it would be his knee-jerk reaction — one he would be very happy fulfilling this very moment if he thought it would do any good — and perhaps it always would be but no. Hexing Lemaire wouldn't change a damn thing, hell, Mia might even feel sorry for the bastard.

"I bet your friends would _love_ to know about the latest girl in your life," Sirius hinted.

"You wouldn't. They'd target her." Sirius was surprised to hear actual worry in his voice but he could've been crying with worry and Sirius wouldn't budge because everything that had just come out of Gabriel's mouth was the exact reason he should leave her be in the first place.

"Which is why, secret or not, you shouldn't be involved with her! Cut her loose, Lemaire, before she gets hurt."

Sirius walked passed him without another word, considering his job done.

* * *

"James' detention is finishing up so I'll make this quick: we've got nine people to pull off the biggest party of the year," Lily laid out the facts at the beginning of dinner. They'd all agreed to come extra early — food hadn't even been served yet — since James was supervising a detention and it was an opportune time to plan without James getting suspicious.

Lily had been stuck on what to do for James' birthday, all she knew was it had to be _big_. James loved _big_ things. Big breakfasts, big games, big hugs, big trees, big stadiums, big dates, big loves and big parties so it came as a no brainer that Lily, somehow had to throw him the biggest party ever. The biggest Hogwarts had ever seen and she had to do it without the teachers knowing.

It stumped Sirius when Lily refused to give the reins over to him who'd insisted that he'd do a better job having thrown multiple bashes at Hogwarts throughout the years and maybe she was stupid not to. He, by far, had more experience throwing a party within Hogwarts walls, her party in the library being the prime example but Lily was determined. This would be an Evans party and it would blow every single Marauder party into the trash (where they belonged).

"If we pull this off, it'll go down in Hogwarts history," Alice said, jittery.

"No, it won't," Lily said firmly, "Because the teachers aren't going to find out. Marlene how's word getting around?"

"Just fine," Marlene assured.

Lily looked at Peter because Peter heard everything, the benefit of being able to turn into a rat, and he nodded his head. "It's very under the radar but there's definitely a buzz — even with the Slytherins. The disguised pamphlets are genius, Marls." Lily ticked off invitations on her list though worried slightly about the Slytherins knowing.

"I know. I'm brilliant," Marlene grinned.

"How's booze coming along?" Lily asked Sirius.

"Pete, Rem and I are sneaking out to Rosmerta's tomorrow night. We've two crates of firewhiskey, Ogden's Finest — nothing but the best for James — a crate of rose elf wine, a crate of Starling Champagne — like I said, nothing but the best — and two crates of mixed stuff, giggle water, red and white wines, Shiver Me Timbers, Dragon Barrel Brandy, mead."

"What the hell is Shiver Me Timbers?" Marlene asked, slightly alarmed.

"Oh, it's a shot," Sirius grinned, "Sends a literal shiver down your spine."

"What about mixers?" Lily inquired, ticking of alcohol.

"Four crates of soda water, butterbeer, ginger ale, water and those muggle soft drinks you requested." Lily ticked off another box.

"More than enough," Remus nodded his head.

"You lot going to be able to carry all that?" Ella asked, her eyebrow quirked.

"You should never doubt our ways," Peter told her. "We're quite efficient."

"And decorations?" she looked at Adaline, Alice and Ella.

"Should arrive next week, balloons, streamers, party hats, banner and I'm working on a spell to make muggle fairy lights work — we can wrap them around the Quidditch posts. A house elf is hooking me up for food and the cake — Quidditch themed and honestly, they looked so excited, they really love James so I don't know how flash it's going to be."

Lily nodded and ticked decorations off her list, she was perhaps least worried about decorations. The girls had a good eye for that sort of thing and the flashier the better. Everything needed to be big, big, big!

"How's your part coming?" Marlene asked her.

"That's what tonight's for, if I can enlist Sirius into escorting me tonight?"

"My pleasure," he assured.

Peter coughed loudly and Lily looked up to see James heading towards them with what seemed to be stars in his eyes. Lily hastily shoved her list into her bag as the others pretended to chat about homework, James stood behind Lily, massaging her shoulders though it was to keep him from fidgeting.

"You all right?" Remus asked James.

"You're never going to believe it," James said, the stars reaching his voice too.

"What happened?" Lily asked, angling her head up to catch his face, curious at what had her boyfriend looking like the world was a star.

"They — a scout owled me. Jeremy Moulin contacted me."

"Moulin," Sirius furrowed his brow, "Doesn't he scout for Puddlemere?"

James looked ready to burst and Lily's smile was already hurting her face as she turned in her seat to face him, "No way!" she squealed. "You got a trial?"

"I got a trial!" he confirmed, happiness beaming out of his voice as strongly as a flash of a spell.

Lily jumped up, using the seat as a push-up to launch herself into James' arms. He caught her swiftly as she wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed kisses on his neck. James held her tightly, knowing life couldn't get much better than this.

A trial with his dream team and his dream girl to celebrate with, it was everything he could have hoped for and more.

* * *

He had detention. It wasn't the first time, wouldn't be the last but this one would always stick to him like a ghost. Of course, first there was the reason he was in detention in the first place. Gabriel had come in angry, fuming but he wouldn't say why though he was right peeved off about something, torn up about something too and he wasn't stupid, he knew the two were connected he just didn't know how or why.

"Come on," Gabriel insisted, standing up and slipping his shoes on. "Let's go out."

"It's pass curfew."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Don't be a child."

This time Regulus rolled his eyes but he stood and slipped his own feet into shoes. They were silent as they made their way out of the almost deserted common room — no one questioned them and no one would rat them out, the Slytherins protected each other fiercely. Regulus would never forgot when a sixth year Slytherin had covered his own first year arse. He hadn't even known him but he covered for Regulus saving him from his first ever detention only to delay it until the week before Christmas holidays when Sirius refused to come home for the holidays and Regulus punched him in the face.

"Where're you lot off to?" Peyton asked.

"Now, Pey, don't be getting all prefect-y on us," Gabriel mused.

"I would never though I wouldn't mind stretching my legs."

The two boys shrugged and Peyton ragged Alvena to join them. It was odd, at first, how much Regulus's circle of friends meshed with the seventh year Slytherins but after a few years, it all seemed natural. It was normal to hang out with Severus, Dominique, Evan, Peyton and Alvena. Just like it was normal to hang out with Gabriel, Joshua, Beatrice and Aubra. So it wasn't at all odd when Severus decided to join as well.

So the five of them left the common room together and as they reached the landing that would lead to the basement and Hufflepuff dormitories, they heard voices.

"Come on," Reg said, "Let's continue before we bump into whoever they are." But as he went to step up he recognised one of the voices very well.

"Would you stop stressing, Evans? You pulled it off tonight and you'll pull it off on Saturday."

"But what if I don't?"

The two voices drifted so clearly and Regulus thought maybe he died a little on the inside. He didn't have the energy to deal with his brother right now but he knew the others wouldn't let this opportunity go. Evans and Black. The mudblood screwing a pureblood and the blood traitor Black. To them, they were a present wrapped with a pretty little bow. He could already see the girls excited glances at each other and Gabriel, for fucks sake, was already taking his wand out.

Evans and Sirius rounded the corner and Peyton led the attack.

"Planning the divorce already, mudblood?"

"We were sneaking out to buy her a sexy pair of lingerie, actually. Birthday sex is going to be _big_ ," Sirius quipped back and Lily bit back a smile and nudged him.

Severus let out a disgusted sound and Evans eyes went cold. Regulus had heard all about their encounter the other day. Merlin, this was not going to go anywhere good, not that the words good, Slytherin, and Gryffindor could ever be used in the same sentence in a positive matter.

"Something the matter, Snivellus?" Sirius asked.

"Your arrogant Potter stealing my-"

"Stealing your what?" Lily asked coolly. "Are you actually going to admit in front of your oh-so-cool mates that we were mates? Or was I just going to become your mudblood whore one day?"

The girl had guts. Regulus could see why his brother had become friends with her.

"Lily-" Severus started, appalled.

"That's Evans to you, _Snape_."

"Lil, lets go," Sirius said quietly.

"Not so cocky now, are you?" Gabriel stepped forward.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "Don't be an idiot, Lemaire. You'll give yourself away."

"No one tells me what to do."

"Good thing I threatened you instead. Let's go." Sirius grabbed Lily's wrist to try and tow her with him up the stairs but the twins blocked them.

"You think, you can threaten one of us and get away with it?" Peyton asked, pulling her wand out.

"Maybe you want to go ask Lemaire before you go pointing wands at us," Lily suggested.

"No one asked you, niffler."

Sirius stiffened, _that_ look transforming his face. His light eyes went dark, his jaw tightened and Regulus knew that Sirius wasn't going to let it go. None of them would now.

"Gabe, let's go," Regulus muttered.

"Always the first to run," Sirius lashed. "Go on, Reg, why don't you go running straight to mother?"

"What did you call me?" Lily asked, stepping up to Peyton and suddenly, everyone's attention was on them.

"Oh, sorry," Peyton mocked. "I forgot that you're a muggle and don't understand wizarding terms. A niffler, sweetie, is a creature that hunts out gold."

"I know what a niffler is," Lily bit back, "Just like I know what a loathsome, little slut you are! How was Fortescue in the sack? Even _I_ didn't give it up to him though he was always fond of the greenhouses and I do have a little more class than that."

Peyton flushed all the way from the base of her neck to the tip of her roots, her face gnarled in red, hot fury but Evans didn't shrink away like another might've. She stood tall and proud even as Peyton's hand slashed across her cheek in a cracking slap. Lily shoved Peyton away from her and still stood tall, at least until Professor Slughorn stumbled across the lot of them leading to detention on Tuesday night at 7 o'clock.

Now, any student from Gryffindor and Slytherin could tell you that it was never good to put a Slytherin and a Gryffindor in the same room however the teachers of Hogwarts didn't seem to get that memo.

All seven of them sat in a room, stony faced as they waited for their punishments to be handed out by Professor McGonagall who had always been better at disciplining students than Professor Slughorn.

"Blacks and Evans, you're to meet Hagrid in the Entrance Hall where you'll assist him in the Forbidden Forest."

"Which Black?" Regulus asked as Sirius presumptuously stood beside Evans.

"Both."

Regulus' face paled by a shade as Sirius muttered, "Great."

Professor McGonagall watched them sternly until they all shuffled out of the classroom. Regulus huffed when Sirius and Lily lagged behind muttering to each other.

"I don't want to go in the forest," Lily whispered.

"It's not that bad," Sirius assured her.

They joined with Hagrid in the Entrance Hall and he blithered on about the Potions ingredients they'd be searching for in the forest and Lily happily chatted back with him, boring both the Black brothers. Despite the common ground, neither made an attempt to speak to the other.

There was nothing left to say. Regulus knew it and Sirius knew it and to say anything else was just salt in an open wound.

Regulus didn't really know why McGonagall had chosen him out of the other four Slytherins to be in the Gryffindor group, though he suspected it was because she knew he was a little more passive than the others. He would be glad of it years later when he looked back on it. To put either of the Aitken sisters or Lemaire would have been a sure way to cause another brawl which left Snape. But to subject Lily to Snape's company would have been some level of cruelness after she'd explicitly told him she no longer wants to be his friend and anyone paying the slightest bit of attention could see Snape was in love with her. In Regulus' opinion, Snape would never deserve her. He didn't think any of them deserved anyone half way decent and Evans was more than half way decent, no matter what the others insisted, Regulus still had eyes and no matter what his brother insisted, he wasn't an idiot.

They were in the Forbidden Forest for about fifteen minutes and despite Evans having said she didn't want to go in, she looked around at everything with wonder in her eyes and Sirius pointed things out as though he were showing her around London instead of the Forbidden Forest. Regulus wondered how many times Sirius had been in here.

Here, where the trees towered over and were so thick it seemed whole houses could fit in them. It was eerie, Regulus had to admit, all the sounds and the darkness, not being able to see beyond the light at the tip of their wands. It mildly alarmed him when Hagrid suggested that Regulus and Lily separate so they could cover more ground.

Lily, now fully confident in the forest, agreed though Sirius had reservations.

"Why don't me and Lily split and he can stay with you?" Sirius asked Hagrid.

"I'm not going to attack her and leave her for the wolves," Regulus muttered. "I'm not that bad."

He saw it in Sirius' eyes though. He was bad enough. Bad enough that he didn't trust his brother with one of his best mates, maybe especially his best mate's girl.

"I've strict instructions to keep an eye on yeh," Hagrid told Sirius, "She doesn' seem to trust yeh on yer own in the forest."

Sirius scowled but Lily nudged him. "I'll be fine. Pretty sure I can beat your kid brother in a duel if it came down to it, no offence Black."

Considering she petrified three of his friends and walked away without even a detention, no offence was taken.

"It's fine," he said.

"Brill, let's go," Lily ordered.

"Lily, I don't think-"

"I'll be fine." She walked right away from Sirius expecting Regulus to follow her, he didn't though, not right away. The torn, worried look on his brother face stopped him. It was the same look he'd given Regulus before he'd gotten on the Hogwarts Express for the very first time.

Regulus opened his mouth, "I know my word doesn't mean a lot to you, but I'll watch out for her," and then he turned to follow Lily, leaving an astonished look on Sirius' face.

"About time you caught up," Lily mused when he fell into step behind her.

"I hope you know what you're looking for."

"I do," she assured. "You shouldn't mind Sirius' glaring at you. He's just worried and he likes to act all tough and cool," Lily explained as her eyes scanned the forest floor for the shrubs Hagrid had been rambling on about earlier. He supposed she knew what she was doing when she reached under one and pulled out silvery stones the size of marbles. "He's also got it in his head that if anything happens to me, James will set a troll on him."

"I know my brother, thanks," Regulus said coolly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"You knew him. You don't know who he is now," Lily disagreed. "You could try to argue with me but I know sibling rivalry all too well."

"You have a sibling?" he asked surprised. He hadn't known.

"A sister, muggle," Lily explained. "Snape never talked about her then?" Regulus shook his head. "No, I suppose he wouldn't've. He was always ashamed that I'm muggle-born just like she was always ashamed that I'm a witch," she sighed. "I could never win. My best friend wanted me to be one thing, my sister another but I'm not one or the other, I'm both."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Sirius and I, we bonded over our mutual sibling rivalry and he feels guilty though he'll never admit it. It's all in the eyes," she told him, tapping two fingers under her eyes.

"Guilty?" Regulus asked.

"Mmmhmm."

He waited for her to say more and when she didn't, he asked, "About what?"

"You."

"Me?"

"You," Lily agreed. "See, I think if Sirius back then was who he is now, he'd have tried harder to get you out and he feels guilty that he didn't."

"You assume I wanted to get out and leave my family, like he did?"

"I don't presume to know anything about you," Lily said as she bent down to stick her hand under another shrub, pulled out three silvery stones and one black one. Discarding the black one and pocketing the three silvery ones, she continued, "I'm just telling you Sirius' side."

"Sirius's side is he left me, his family for his friends and don't pretend he ever cared about me or anyone else in our family."

"Now, we both know that's not true," Lily said quietly. "You and Sirius we're still on good terms until about fifth year from what I remember."

"You don't know anything about us."

"I know some," Lily considered. "I know it must be hard to see Sirius around school all the time. I would've hated having to deal with my sister every day — I did, still do and I only saw her during the summers."

"Yeah, yeah it's hard," Regulus agreed. Especially when all your friends and family expected you to hate your own brother.

"He finds it hard, too. Whenever you guys get into a fight, he goes off and broods for hours until one of us goes and gets him drunk, usually James. What do you do?"

"I — when we were about eight or nine he had the whole collection of _Killian Dragon_. It's a book series by Lada Johns — mum forbade her books because she was a muggle-born but Sirius had the whole stash hidden under his bed, all seven books. He used to let me read them and when I liked them so much he got me my very own set for my birthday. When it gets hard, I read a _Killian Dragon_ book."

Lily smiled. "Much better than brooding and getting drunk. Just remember, that hating each other isn't the only option. You're allowed to love your brother and wish him all the best even if you can't be friends. It took me a while to figure it out but even though I don't agree with her choice in husband and we don't talk anymore, I still love her. Always will because she's my sister, no matter what."

Regulus smiled back, thinking she was pretty great though he'd never tell another soul of his conversation with Lily, he was glad Sirius had her as a friend and maybe she was right. Maybe he could still be glad for the life Sirius had even if it wasn't a life he'd want for himself. Maybe it was enough to know that they were both happy.

"Thank you."

* * *

 _Dear Frank,_

 _It's Alice. I'm truly sorry for the way we left things. I completely went mental at you and I should've handled it better. I'm also sorry for waiting a month to owl you. I needed time to think about things because I know I love you, I do, I just had trouble figuring out if I was ready for marriage. You have to know that marriage was never on my list of things to do in the foreseeable future, so I had a lot to consider and I needed space to do that so thank you for leaving me be for a while._

 _There's going to be a party at Hogwarts on Saturday 25_ _th_ _for James' birthday. Can you please come so we can talk? I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks and sneak you in. 8pm. I really hope you can make it._

 _Love, Alice_

She sealed the letter in an envelope and watched her owl fly off with it, her fingers clutching the ring she'd hung around her neck on a long chain.

She had thought a lot about her conversation with Remus and Marlene and she'd come to a decision and no matter what that decision was, Remus was right: no more thinking, just do.

* * *

"Lily, my love!" James called, sitting next to her on the couch she was curled up on in the common room. "I am exhausted."

Lily lifted her book off her lap so he could rest his head on her lap and automatically her fingers started playing with his hair. He'd already showered and his damp locks were soft and fluffy, Lily thought the only time his hair wasn't knotty was those few precious hours after a shower where he actually bothered to run a comb through his messy locks.

"You would be," she agreed. "You've been out for three hours."

"I have to train, only the best-"

"Make it into Puddlemere," Lily smiled, cutting him off. "I know, love." It was why she offered to drag her butt out of bed at five a.m twice a week to train with him in the mornings.

James grinned. "What have you been up to tonight?"

"Oh, just homework." _And planning your super secret surprise party_.

"Uh-huh, and do I get to know why you had detention with Sirius on Tuesday yet?"

"We told you, we went out to get food and bumped into the Slytherins."

"You don't break curfew for something as trivial as Sirius wanted food."

"I wanted food," Lily corrected.

"You hate eating past seven." It was one of the things that had confused James when he had found out.

"Well, that night I didn't."

"Lousy liar, Evans, but I suppose I can let it go as long as you and Black aren't having a secret rendezvous behind my back," James sighed dramatically and Lily mimed throwing up. "What're you reading?"

He plucked the book out of her hand and smiled. "Killian Dragon! Loved these when I was little."

"And I'm loving it now," she took the book back. "I didn't know wizarding literature could be so entertaining though I suppose it was written by a muggle-born. It does have a bit of a James Bond flare to it."

"James Bond?" James asked, not recognising the name.

"I'll get mum to owl me the books. You'll love them."

"Always down for a muggle novel," James enthused. "You know, I don't think I've kissed you yet."

"Hmm, don't think you have," Lily smiled as James leaned up to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Now that I've gotten my kiss you need to go away. I want to get up to chapter twenty before bed."

"I'm going to pretend like that wasn't an arrow to my heart," James commented and Lily laughed, trying to shove him off her and onto the floor, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, burrowing his face in her stomach.

"Go annoy Sirius."

"More and more arrows, Evans."

"Go sleep, you look tired."

"And a low blow at my appearance. Why you gotta break my heart?"

Lily shook her head with a laugh, "You're truly insufferable."

"You love me," he insisted jumping up from the couch and leaning down to kiss her slowly. "Enjoy the book."

"Don't forget to check the map."

"You can't stalk her forever," James sighed.

"I know, I know and it's not stalking. I just want to know if Lemaire had the decency to break it off with her since Sirius had a word with him."

"I'll check but you know, Lils, you should just come clean to her. Tell her you think it's a bad idea."

Lily knew she should but she didn't know how. Was she supposed to just go up to Mia and be like, hey about your secret beau, ditch him, he's a Death Eater dressed like a douchebag? Lily didn't even know how to explain how she knew about her and Lemaire without blatantly lying and Lily didn't want to lie.

"We'll see," Lily said to pacify James. "Go on to bed, you're going to be up early tomorrow."

"So are you," James pointed out, tomorrow was one of the two days she was dragging her arse out of bed at five a.m, they'd both be getting up early.

"Two more chapters," she promised. "Besides I haven't been flying about on a broom for three hours."

He kissed her cheek, "Good night, Marie."

"G'night, Jems."

* * *

"Do I get an invite to your super cool party?" Mia asked, falling into step with Lily.

"Of course, ah, Marls is in charge of inviting, I should've realised," Lily said apologetically. It hadn't even crossed her mind, she'd been so exhausted from sneaking out with Sirius to practice the damn charm that as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was dead to the world. She didn't let that deter her though because when she pulled it off, it would all be worth it.

"No big. So do I get to know where this super exclusive party is?"

"Nice try," Lily smiled, "You'll find out an hour before just like everyone else."

"Urgh, what's the point of us being friends if you aren't going to dish the goods?"

Lily shook her head and then a thought occurred to her. "You're not going home for Easter?" Lily questioned with the tone of surprise in her voice.

"Oh, no. Exams and all."

Lily nodded. She did understand after all in her own seven years of schooling, Lily had only made it home for the Easter holidays in her first two years. She had just assumed because her family was religious she'd return home for the holidays but that was Lily's mistake.

"Let me know if you need any help with Charms or Potions," Lily grinned. "Are you nervous for OWLs?"

Mia shrugged. "I don't think it's settled in yet."

Lily laughed, "Fair enough and in saying that, when it does, try not to stress about it. They're just exams and literally no one cares how many OWLs you get, in fact, people who brag about their OWLs are considered as arrogant bougees."

Mia laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, got to run. If I'm late again to Charms, Flitwick will give me detention."

"I'll catch you later," Lily agreed, and jogged a little to catch up with James and Peter who were analyzing the pros and cons of sticking a Dragon Bomb to Slughorn's chair. "Absolutely not," she informed them. "If you're going to do it to any teacher, I'd say do it to Scrivens since she's always on about constant vigilance and then I wager you a galleon she sits on it."

James and Peter grinned at each other before taking Lily up on her offer.

* * *

Lily rocked on and off the balls of her feet, her hands fidgeting with the tips of her hair.

"You need to relax," Marlene swung an arm around Lily's shoulders to held still her. "Everything looks great."

Lily nodded. "Uh huh but what if he hates it?"

"Lily, we literally wrapped a billion fairy lights around the quidditch posts. We have a three tier Quidditch themed cake. We have balloons and music and alcohol. James will love this. Everyone else does."

Lily looked around and sure enough the pitch was slowly filling up with people from all the houses and the pitch was truly stunning. The six Quidditch posts gleamed and glittered casting a soft glow over the entire pitch and balloons charmed to float over their heads drifted daintily.

Plenty of their friends turned up. There was the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team and most teammates from the other three teams, most of the prefects had showed up and then there were others. Like Mia, Mary MacDonald, Nicolea Flawley and Lily thought she saw Frank floating around somewhere though she didn't look too much into how Alice managed to sneak him in. The Gryffindor boys from Nate's dormitory were all there — Victor King, Joey Walker, Jon Haggard and Ben Alton.

Lily had suppressed the urge to punch Helena the Tarty Twat when she walked in with her Hufflepuff posse that included Polly Piggens and Hannah Abbott though Lily couldn't fathom why they thought it a good idea to turn up. Another thing Lily couldn't fathom was why Andrew Fortescue showed up with his mates but she couldn't control everything. People heard 'party' and wanted in, they didn't care who it was for.

"And you think I look all right?" Lily asked, the girls.

She wore a black dress with combat boots and Sirius' leather jacket because she had been cold and forgotten her jacket upstairs when it was too late to go get it.

"You look fine," Alice insisted.

Ella nudged Lily, "It's five to eight."

Lily and the rest started telling everyone to quiet down and to face the entrance. James was scheduled to arrive at eight on the dot. Sirius turned the fairy lights off, Marlene turned the music off. Lily, Sirius, Ella, Adaline and Alice all stood at the front of the crowd ready to greet James.

Lily was bouncing on her feet as she waited.

"Do you think Peter told him?" Lily asked.

"Remus would've made sure he didn't," Sirius assured her.

"We saw him in Hogsmeade earlier," Ella said, "He's as clueless as a bat."

"Bit annoyed at you two though," Adaline mentioned and Lily supposed she deserved that after being M.I.A all day to decorate and set up the charm that kept them hidden from prying eyes perfectly. All those late nights practicing with Sirius had paid off, Lily knew it when they had the whole set up done and glittering and couldn't so much as see the glow of the lights from outside the pitch, it just looked like it always did, empty.

"But he won't be once he sees all this," Alice assured Lily. "Seriously, Lils, this is the best surprise party in history."

Lily nodded, slightly reassured but didn't stop bouncing.

"Everyone shut up!" Sirius yelled and Lily strained her ears to hear if James, Remus and Peter had entered the perimeter yet. After a minute, Lily heard James' voice drifting through the air.

"I really don't see the point of checking the Quidditch pitch for them. We can see it from the common room. There's no one there!"

"It can't hurt," Peter said.

"Yeah," Remus agreed, "We already checked the Great Hall, the library and the common room."

"It would just be such an odd-"

The rest of James sentence was cut off by everyone screaming, "SURPRISE!"

James' mouth dropped open as confetti flew everywhere and the stadium lit up. Marlene blared the chorus of Dancing Queen and everyone was cheering and clapping and laughing.

"What the hell?" James stuttered as Lily ran up to him, her smile so wide because everything, all the worrying, the planning, the late nights, the secrets — god the secrets — was worth it for that look on his face.

"Happy early birthday, Jems!" she exclaimed as she launched herself into his arms, he caught her swiftly as she wrapped her legs around his torso.

"I – what?" he said, still stunned. He looked around at everything — the cake, the fairy lights, the balloons, the people, the stolen turntable — completely gobsmacked.

"It's your party. A surprise obviously."

"But we couldn't see any of this from the outside," James said in awe as he continued looking around.

"Illusion Charm," Lily explained as Sirius came up, throwing an arm around James neck.

"What'd you think, mate? Lily's idea, I was just the mastermind behind everything."

"Everyone helped," Lily corrected. "So do you like it?"

"Marie, this is bloody brilliant!" he said, spinning her around. Laughter flew out of Lily's mouth as she felt all the nerves about the party leave her. "Bloody hell, no wonder you've been sketchy the last few weeks."

"I've not been sketchy!" Lily jumped down, landing delicately on her feet.

"What do you call hushed conversations that stop when I enter the room? And weird secrets with Sirius?" he asked. "I can't believe you did all this," James said completely awed.

"Come on," Lily said, grabbing his hand and led him to the drinks table where Sirius was lining up a round of firewhiskeys for everyone. Nate handed James a cup and said, "Happy birthday, mate."

"Cheers!" James grinned downing the entire thing before holding his cup out to Sirius for a refill.

"To getting royally smashed," Sirius toasted as he poured James' drink.

"Ahem," Lily said holding out her own empty cup.

"Pregnant people aren't supposed to drink," Sirius remarked and Lily groaned as James snickered.

They integrated into the dance floor, the alcohol in their cups sloshing around as they danced to the music Nate and Marlene played and Lily didn't think life could get much better than this.

* * *

There'd been an awkward hug when she had met Frank at the Three Broomsticks. She'd wanted to tell him then but Alice had fifteen minutes to get to the Quidditch Pitch on time if she didn't want to die a gruesome death by the hands of Lily. So there was an awkward hug and then she'd led him into the castle through the secret passage.

The whole thing was awkward. Neither of them spoke, neither knew what to say.

As they entered the Quidditch Pitch, Alice turned to Frank, "So how have things been?"

"I — all right. I was glad to get your letter."

"I'm glad you came," Alice smiled softly. "We should-"

"Oi! Al, come help us with these lights will you? Is that Frank? Hey, Frank! Mind helping us with these lights?" Ella called from where she was hovering a few feet above the ground holding a string of lights, "It's bloody harder than it looks and I can't hold them in place, cast the sticking charm and keep the broom steady at the same time."

So they went and helped with the set-up but helping with the set-up didn't really give them alone time so they were waiting for later. It was later now and Alice wove around people trying to find him. So many people had turned up and they all congregated at the middle of the pitch. Alice wished they'd spread out more so she could find him.

A tap on her shoulder had her spinning around and she smiled in relief when it was Frank.

"I was just looking for you."

Frank nodded. "Should we?" he cocked his head to gesture they should go somewhere more private and Alice nodded. They walked until they were under the glittering posts. She didn't want to be interrupted nor did she want anything to become big.

"Al, I just want to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for pressuring you into making this decision and I don't know what I was thinking because you're right. We are young and we don't have to be married to be together and I don't want to lose you," he rambled. "I just, I think because I love you so much I just, I know I want to be with you forever and usually people who want to be together forever, they get married and I just — I understand if you're not ready and maybe it is too soon but am I crazy for thinking that it isn't? I just-"

Alice stopped his talking with a finger to his lips. "Shh," she said.

"But I just-"

"Frank."

"Yes?" he mumbled.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I'll marry you even if we're too young. I'll marry you even if we're both crazy. I'll marry you because I want to be with you forever, too."

She let her hand drop as Frank's mouth popped open, "Oh," and then, "Thank Merlin." He pulled her closer to him and pressed his forehead against hers. "Merlin, I missed you."

"I missed you, too. Frank, I love you."

"I love you, too."

Their lips met and Alice wondered why she even had to think about it for a month because now, this moment, everything felt right. She could see everything so clearly it astounded her that it had to take that long for her to see it. She wanted a life with him and it was really as simple and as clear as that.

"Ring? Where's the ring?" Frank mumbled into her lips and Alice fumbled as she pulled it out of her shirt, pulling the chain over her head. Frank grabbed it and slid the ring onto her third finger, the chain hanging off it still. "We'll fix it later," he mumbled as he captured her lips in his again.

* * *

This was exactly where he didn't want to be. For bloody sake he just wanted to get his mates a drink but it seemed the universe was laughing at him as Helena freaking Bonham joined him at the drinks table.

"So married, huh?" she asked and James smirked.

"That's what they're saying," he agreed, not all together lying. He wasn't married but it was what everyone's been saying and no one was letting Lily forget it any time soon.

"Never pegged you for the marriage type."

That was odd. James always pegged himself as the marriage type. "Things change."

"So divorce isn't on the horizon then?"

"Helena," he sighed. "You need to stop. What we had was nothing more than a summer fling. We never did anything more than snog and party."

"But we were so, so good at it," she said in a sultry voice, her finger tracing his bicep. James stepped back at the contact.

"That was then, this is now. I love Lily so you really should just move on. I'm not available, off the market."

"What makes her so special?" Helena sniffed. "Everyone thinks she's so great. She's just a girl."

"James!" Lily squealed and James head snapped over to where Sirius had her pitched over his shoulder. James shook his head with an amused grin. Sirius had warned he'd steal Lily if James wasn't prompt with the drinks.

"She is," James agreed, "But she's my girl. Now, if you excuse me," James grabbed the three drinks with both his hands, "I gotta go save her from Sirius."

James walked away quickly, palming off the three drinks to Remus and Peter, before jogging after Sirius who was backing away and now carrying Lily in a bridal carry.

"Catch her," Sirius said.

"Don't you dare!" Lily warned.

"Come on, love, I wouldn't drop you."

"Ready?" Sirius asked and James grinned, holding his arms out.

"No, no, no!" Lily squealed but it was too late, Sirius boosted her out of his arms only to land in James' a few seconds later. James grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"All right, Evans?"

"I hate the pair of you, acting like I'm a bloody quaffle."

"Good thing we're chasers then." James pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

"Hmm," she sighed into his lips, "Put me down, prat."

"Yes, m'am." He let her down gently.

"Were you chatting with Bonham before?" she asked.

James sighed, "She cornered me. I set her straight though."

"You did? What'd you say?"

"I told her I'm off the market and she said that you were just a girl and I said you're my girl."

Lily looped her arms around his neck, standing on her tip toes to press a kiss to his lips again. "I am," she agreed, "And you're my guy, forever and ever and ever."

"All yours," James agreed. "Until the end." James looked around and grabbed Lily's hand, "Come on!"

He led her into one of the stadium towers as Lily laughed and asked him what they were doing.

"Crossing items off the bucket list," he told her and she shook her head as James pushed open the door that led into the rickety stairs that led to the stadium. She tripped over her feet in the dark, laughing but James hauled her up with him until they reached a landing about halfway up.

James leaned against the railing, looping his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

"Do I get to know what we're crossing off the bucket list?"

In response, he started kissing her face. Her cheeks, her nose, her jaw line before moving his lips against hers slowly, his hands finding their way under her dress to grab her bum.

"Oh," she said in surprise when he rested his forehead against hers.

"Do you want to?" he whispered.

In response, she started unbuttoning his shirt.

* * *

Sirius was in trouble and not the obvious kind. He honestly didn't know how this happened. One minute, he was fine and they were just friends, now he was dancing opposite her and all he could think about was snogging her. Of course, he wouldn't do something as stupid as that. She was his friend and it wasn't like he could snog her and forget about it.

But she was so sexy in her little, leather skirt. Her pale legs were slim and long, her eyes bright as she sung along to the words of _Bohemian Rhapsody_. Sirius leaned in, and shouted, "I'm getting a drink!"

She nodded and latched into Marlene and Adaline's dance circle as Sirius parted, feeling a tang of regret. Merlin he was an idiot. He just needed to cool down.

"You know, I reckon she'd snog you if you asked," Peter said, bumping Sirius' shoulder.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Where's the other two?"

"Prongs and Lils went off on their own about twenty minutes ago and Remus is playing exploding snap with the blokes."

Sirius sighed. "He's gonna burn his eyebrows off again."

"He can afford it," Peter pointed out. "They grow back all the time even bushier than before. I still reckon she'd snog you if you asked."

Sirius shrugged, pouring himself a cup of firewhiskey. "We're friends. It'll make things weird. What about you, Wormy? Why aren't there any ladies hanging off your arm?" Sirius asked, knowing the best way to get Peter off his back about something was to put the attention on him.

"I hooked up with Daisy Ellery before," Peter admitted, "Now, I'm hiding from her."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because right after I snogged her, I went to get us drinks and Allison Hopkins came gushing to me about how Daisy always had a crush on me."

"Right," Sirius drawled. "And you don't do relationships."

"Ha ha. It's not the relationship I don't want."

"And what has poor, innocent Daisy Ellery ever done to you?"

"She sets rat traps … around the castle. I almost got caught in one. She hates rats apparently so that'll just never work no matter how fit she is."

"I'm sure there are plenty of other doe-eyed birds who'd be willing to snog you," Sirius clapped Peter's shoulder before thrusting a bottle in Peter's direction. "Drink up."

"What is it?"

"Hell if I know," Sirius raised his own cup in the air and said, "Bottom's up!"

Peter drank whatever was left in the bottle, smacking his lips as he set the bottle down on the table again and shivering. "Damn you, Sirius that was Shiver Me Timbers."

Sirius smirked until Peter's eyes widened. "Slytherins coming through."

Sirius spun and his eyes narrowed when he spotted the Aitken twins, Snape, Mulciber, Avery and Yaxely. They strolled in as though they owned the place and Sirius was livid.

"What the fuck do they think they're doing?"

"Joining the party," Peter suggested as the group headed towards another drink table.

Sirius wasn't happy with that idea at all. No way were some Slytherin no lifes going to come to a party hosted by Lily Evans for James Potter and drink their alcohol and eat their food.

Sirius stormed up to them, Peter jogging to catch up.

"I don't remember sending you an invite," Sirius quipped.

"I don't remember caring," Avery sneered.

"You'd need a heart for that," Sirius agreed.

Avery narrowed his eyes as Mulciber stepped forward. "So where is the hostess and guest of honour? I've come to see if Potter's finished with her yet. She does have the tightest little body, I reckon she's like a bunny in bed."

"You want to watch how you talk about Lily," Peter warned.

"You know, I offered."

"Offered to leave?" came James' voice from behind. "That's a great idea! You should do that." James into line with Sirius.

"You didn't let me finish, Potter," Mulciber said with a smirk. "I offered your little mudblood if she wanted to be my whore when you were done with her. What do you think, Potter? Up for sharing?"

Sirius glanced at James from the corner of his eye and knew to prepare for a fight.

* * *

An anger rolled through him so intense that he didn't know how the sheer force of it didn't turn Mulciber and the whole lot of them into ash. In that moment, he could imagine a thousand different ways to wipe that smirk off of Mulciber's ugly face.

Instead, James forced on a polite smile and stepped forward, resting his hand on Mulciber's shoulder, clenching his other one into a fist.

"You know, Mulciber," James plunged his clenched fist into Mulciber's gut feeling satisfaction at the 'ooft' that left his lips as James left him winded, "You always were a dick." James punched him in the nose next, the crunch of a broken nose never sounded more satisfying before Avery pulled his wand out but Sirius was already there and they stood in a stalemate, wands pointed at each other. "What about you, Snape?" James asked whilst Mulciber nursed his broken nose on the floor. "You gonna let your disgrace of a mate talk about her like that?" James kicked Mulciber in the ribs.

"What do I care?" Snape spat and James rolled his eyes.

"Is that Gabriel?" Peyton squinted, "Alvie, isn't that Gabriel over there? Who's he with?"

James froze for a moment as he turned his head. Mia and Lemaire were walking out of the locker room together and that moment it took to turn his head, Mulciber had staggered up and punched James right in the ear, connecting with his cheek bone.

James shook his head, trying to get his bearings back as his ear rung horribly, when another punch landed itself on his jaw. He stumbled back as Sirius surged forward and punched Mulciber in the jaw again.

"Let's go see who his little lady is," James heard Peyton suggest, "While the boys are brawling."

James had a moment to decide. Help his mates or help Mia. They were outnumbered even now that Remus had joined the fray, going one on one with Yaxely. Peter was brawling with Avery now that Sirius had Mulciber.

Sirius looked back and shouted, "Go!" with panic in his eyes and James saw why as Lily sprinted down the field towards Alvena and Peyton who were already making their way towards Mia and Lemaire.

James sprinted towards them and watched as the twins made it to Gabriel and Lemaire at the same time as Lily did.

* * *

"Why, if it isn't the niffler," Peyton smirked.

"Why the hell did you show up, Aitken?" Lily snarled.

"We just wanted to see what all the fuss was about," Alvena said innocently. "It's not our fault your boyfriend can't restrain his fists. And what do we have here?" she turned to Gabriel, eyes assessing Mia Scott. "You're one of the ones who were attacked by Brown."

"Yes," Mia agreed.

"So mudblood then. What're you doing with _her_ , Gabe?"

"Nothing. Mia, go back to the party," he told her, probably the only sensible thing he had done all night.

She didn't move though and Lily didn't know why the hell she didn't move. Didn't she know how bad this could get? Didn't she know that they weren't afraid to hurl hexes strong enough to have her in a hospital bed for two days?

"Do stay," Peyton sneered. "We want to know all about this," she said gesturing to the couple.

"Leave her alone," Lily demanded, stepping in front of Mia. "You should get your friends and leave," Lily told the twins.

"I don't think we will. It is a lovely party and we were just getting acquainted with our little friend here."

"For Merlin's sake, Alvena leave before I write to your mother about all the nasty things you get up to in school."

"She's in France, Potter."

"I know, messy things, divorces. Why did your mum decide to leave your no good dad? Oh, that's right! Word is she found out about your dad being in league with Voldemort. I wonder how she'd react if she found out you two were going down that same path. Hell, I reckon she'd pull you out of Hogwarts and take you both to France. I hear Beauxbatons is a great school."

The twins looked at each other, "This isn't over, niffler," Peyton sneered at Lily as they turned to walk away.

"What did you just-"

Lily grabbed his arm, "Leave it. They're going." Lily turned on Lemaire. "What the hell were you thinking!" she shouted at him. "You know, after Sirius spoke to you, I really thought you'd have the decency to end this! Do you know what you've done to her?"

"You knew?" Mia exclaimed, shock written all over her face.

"I didn't think they'd come to this," Lemaire defended. "I didn't think they'd see."

"Clearly you didn't think at all!" Lily accused. "Anyone could have seen you! Do you have any idea what you've just done? They're never going to leave her alone!"

"Lily — Lily, it's fine," Mia started.

"No, Mia, no it isn't!" Lily fired. "Are you ready for them to spit and sneer at you every time you see them in a corridor? Are you ready for them to gang up on you and ask you if you want to be their whore? And do you really think _he's_ going to stick up for you?"

"Lils, calm down-"

"Sirius, don't!" Lily heard Remus shout as Sirius flew in from nowhere and punched Lemaire in the jaw before James pulled him off.

"You should've backed off when I told you to."

Lemaire wiggled his jaw, stepping away from them. "I'm going to go."

"I'll go with you."

"Mia!" Lily protested.

"You're not my mother," Mia spat before walking off with Lemaire.

"Someone needs to get me drunk and fast," Lily said as she watched Mia walk off down the field, hand in hand with Lemaire, her chocolate curls bouncing up and down.

Sirius high-fived Lily, "I'm with you." So the five of them trudged off to drinks table where Marlene, Nate, Ella and Adaline were doing shots of giggle water.

In five minutes, they were all laughing so hard they couldn't remember that they should actually all be in terrible, terrible moods.

* * *

Merlin, something was wrong with her. She was holding ice to his busted lip and all she could think about was kissing him. She had to be sick or mental or, or, or fucking insane because for Merlin's sake! It was Sirius. Sirius! She couldn't snog Sirius. She didn't even know how this crept up on her because it quite literally did.

All this time there was nothing, just friendship and then tonight seeing him with his busted lip after he pounded Mulciber after what he said about Lily — Merlin, it was like something explosive went off inside her. All she felt was need, need, need for him, of all the people in Hogwarts — in the world — it was Sirius Black. That was some sort of screwed up.

"Sirius, would you sit still so I can put this bloody ice on your lip?" she snapped, exasperated as he insisted on doing giggle water shots with the others, who were all pissing themselves so hard Ella honestly wondered how any of them were standing. As if to prove her point, Marlene tripped over Adaline's foot landing butt first on the grass and she laughed, hysterically along with everyone else.

"Leave it," he mumbled. "Alcohol will fix it."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't complain like a baby when it hurts like a bitch tomorrow because-" and then his lips were on hers and the others were silent for a moment before cheering them on.

"Fucking finally," Peter exclaimed, clapping loudly and whistling.

"Tonight is such a big night," Marlene muttered to Remus. "I'm like falling and so drink I think there are two of you, maybe there are I mean it's Hogwarts after all or maybe you've just had a secret twin all along but like the brawl with the Slytherins and like Alice getting engaged and now Sirius and Ella? I feel like someone's going to announce their pregnant soon!"

Sirius broke the kiss as a shit-eating grin smirked across his face, "Oh, haven't you heard, Marly?" he said and Ella felt so out of place but Sirius' arm was around her waist keeping her to him and it wasn't like she actually wanted to be anywhere else, which was weird in itself. "Evans' is pregnant. It's a girl."

"Suck a dick, Sirius!" Lily poked her tongue out.

"Are we just all going to ignore the fact that Marls said Alice is engaged?" James asked. "Because I kind of feel like that's an important point."

"Who's she engaged to?" Peter asked.

Everyone looked at Alice and Frank and Frank put his hand up, "That'd be me."

Everyone erupted in cheers and Lily's mouth popped open and, "That's why you were asking me all those weird questions about if James proposed! Oh, Ally, I'm so happy for you!"

"It just sort of happened," Alice shrugged and Frank snorted.

"Oh yeah, I asked and a month later she said yes."

In any case it was a happy night and Sirius kissed her again and it was odd in a good way because her heart went into overdrive when he touched her and she felt happy.

* * *

It seemed Lily's terrible, terrible mood returned the next morning when she trudged into the common room at noon, still in her pyjamas, her hair in a tangle of curls and so messy it gave his own hair a run for it's money. Mascara was smudged under her eyes making them appear even more green and she plopped right into James' lap, sitting on top of the paper he was reading and nestled her face into his neck.

"You look stunning," he said, amusement filling his voice.

"I want to punch you in the face."

James squeezed her and kissed her cheek. "Thank you for the amazing party, love."

He thought he felt her lips twitch against his neck. "You're welcome."

"Lils … you're sitting on my newspaper."

"I will punch you if you make me move."

James grinned at his girlfriend who apparently turned into a violent ball of cuteness upon sleep deprivation and he imagined she was feeling a lot of that today. They didn't get to bed until after five because the clean up was epic and the party didn't finish until three in the morning.

James' mind was still blown that no one got caught and that the party didn't get busted. If he hadn't been so wasted he was sure he'd have been looking over his shoulder every five minutes waiting for McGonagall to waltz in and bust them but nope, Lily's spell worked like a charm. Of course, it was hard to take down at five in the morning when she was so obviously drunk, it took five attempts to get the charm down.

The clean-up mightn't've taken so long if any of them were coherent enough to perform spells but that wasn't the case so they all roamed the pitch armed with garbage bags and dumping loose cups and plates and any rubbish from the floor and tables that had been set out. Then there were the lights which they decided to brave with magic because Lily refused to let anyone on a broom — especially James.

The thing that topped the entire night off though, was when they decided to vanish the garbage bags and Peter somehow turned his into a chicken. The little bugger was harder to catch than expected and they all considered leaving it there but the voices of reason (Lily, Marlene, Remus) won out.

"You all right?"

"Threw up twice," she admitted. "Your birthday present is in my pocket."

James felt around her pyjama pants for the little slits that led to a pocket and pulled out a piece of hard paper. It read ' _Queen Concert, Wembley Arena, London, May 12, 1978'_.

"What's this?"

"We're going to a concert," she mumbled into his neck. "All of us."

"May twelfth? What about school?"

"It's not like you've never snuck out before. Just say thank you."

"Thank you, I love it so much that I want to kiss you but you admitted that you threw up twice so I'm just gonna pat your bum." Which he did but she pouted.

"I brushed my teeth," she said, showing off her pearly whites like a child showing their mum before bedtime.

He laughed, swiping her hair out of her face, "Forgot to brush your hair though."

"I don't need pretty hair for you to kiss me," she said looking up at him and James' heart swelled. He didn't know how much love he'd have for this girl when he'd realised he fancied her, didn't know how it possibly fit inside him but it did so he leant down and kissed her and then pretended to gag.

"I could taste the vomit," he joked and she hit him lightly, sulking.

"I hate you so much."

"Mmmhmm, I hate you too, _wife_."

"Even more now," she said, nuzzling her face into his neck again. It wasn't her fault he always smelled nice.

"Uh huh," James said in an unconvincing tone.

"I do," she said in an even more unconvincing tone as she pressed a kiss to his throat.


	27. Chapter 26: The Weeks Before Freedom

It was bizarre honestly. They had exams less than a month away and the five girls were dressing up in party clothes and doing their make-up to go see a muggle band in concert in _London_. Truly, honestly bizarre.

"Marlene, come do my eyeliner!"

"Ooh, can I borrow this top, Lily?"

"Does my fat show in this?"

"We're gonna be late."

"Why did we even agree to this? I have so much studying to do."

These were the conversations floating around the girls dormitory as they prepared. Marlene didn't much care though. She'd been buried and buried in books and stressing so much that one night Nate spiked her pumpkin juice with firewhiskey in an attempt to calm her down. It was hard work trying to do the best you could do in every subject.

Every subject had an important assignment. Every teacher urged you to study. Every subject had hours of homework every week. Marlene didn't even know where to start when she sat down in the library after classes and it had gotten to the point where she woke up at six a.m to do whatever she could before class started in the morning — she didn't even eat breakfast anymore unless someone was kind enough to bring her something at first period.

So this all felt like a breath of fresh air. Her hair was tied in a bright pink scrunchie at the top of her head and her face was done up, winged eyeliner, pink lips and long black lashes not to mention the leather shorts over the top of black stockings matched with chunky boots and a leather jacket. Marlene could look at herself in the mirror and say, "Damn, I look good."

"Yeah you do," Ella cheered, "Now come do my eyeliner."

Marlene complied, doing her eyeliner as Lily asked questions about her own make-up. "Heavy on the black there."

Lily shrugged. "James gets into it when my eyes look greener."

"Well, you look great and James is going to go crazy," Marlene said honestly because Lily's figure was great and perfectly showed off in a tight leather skirt, a leather jacket that was clearly James', chucks and to add to it, her hair was half pulled back into a ponytail at the top of her head to show off the angles of her face and her big green eyes.

"James always goes crazy when he sees Lily," Alice snorted.

"And Frank doesn't when he sees you?" Lily fired back.

"He will tonight," Alice smirked and again, she wasn't wrong. Alice wore a black dress, showing off a neat amount of cleavage and a leather jacket, gogo boots and her hair pulled up in a shaggy half up, half down look.

"We all look fantastic," Adaline agreed who was leaning against the door, wearing high waisted bell bottom jeans with a scruffy white fur jacket and heeled boots. She had round sunglasses on her eyes, despite the fact that it was night. "But can we please get a move on before we are late?"

Ella pulled on her leather jacket and stood up. "I'd say we're ready."

Marlene couldn't agree more. She was ready for one of the happiest nights of her life.

* * *

The walk down to Hogsmeade went fairly quickly as they shared around a bottle of firewhiskey and cheap elf-wine and Sirius lead awful renditions of Queen songs and everyone joined in, getting pumped up for the concert. When they came out behind the Three Broomsticks, Frank was waiting for them and Alice ran into his arms happily and kissed him.

"Hey, sweetie," she giggled, kissing him.

"Hey back. All right?"

"Maybe a little tipsy," she told him, her index and thumb showing just how much. He kissed her forehead, smiling adoringly.

"Hey, Frank," the girls greeted.

"I will be surprised if the lot of you don't end up in detention for the rest of the year."

Ella shrugged, "Gotta live a little, Frank. Now, shall we get going?"

Sirius grinned, grabbing Ella's hand and they turned, crack and gone. Lily smiled giddily and climbed onto James' back. He spun on the spot and crack, they were in a deserted alleyway near Wembley Arena. Sirius and Ella were already snogging against the wall. Lily rolled her eyes, jumping off of James' back and James kicked a can at them.

"Oi! We've a concert to go to!" he shouted as Alice and Frank popped into view.

Sirius flipped James off and Adaline, Remus and Peter appeared and then Marlene and Nate.

Lily and James walked to the stadium hand in hand the group slightly scattered into different groups — Marlene, Nate and Adaline, Remus and Peter, Alice and Frank, and Ella and Sirius.

"You look hot by the way," James told her, kissing her hand. Lily laughed and looked James up and down. He wore chucks with jeans and a leather jacket.

"I'd say you look hot too, but you always wear the same clothes. The fact that you have two leather jackets is case closed."

He laughed and shrugged, "What can I say? All the other muggle clothes are shit and I don't see you complaining considering you've _stolen_ my favourite jacket."

"Oh, really?" she asked, pulling the jacket tighter around her. It was her favourite too.

He nodded and Lily smirked, "Well, it's mine now."

"The woes of having a girlfriend."

"Oi!" Sirius shouted from ahead, "Speed it up! Concert starts in a half hour!"

Lily and James quickly ran up to catch up to the rest of the group and then they all started sprinting to the stadium at full speed until they reached it, heavy breathed and laughing hysterically because Peter pushed Sirius into a trash can and then Remus ran into a large, middle aged man because he was laughing and then Ella stopped to take a photo.

Sirius glared at her but she just shrugged and said, "Take photos of what you love, right?"

"Run, Dearborn!" he warned and Ella squealed before racing away, Sirius close on her tail. "No fair, I'm wearing heels!" she shouted at him.

"And I may have just lost the ability to have children because of that trash can and you took a photo!"

"It was funny!"

* * *

The concert was a hit. They all left buzzing, so buzzed they ended up at a corner pub no one knew the name of but they crammed themselves around a table, stealing chairs from other tables and sitting on top of each other as the whole lot of them had their first real experience with muggle alcohol as they argued over high points in the concert.

"Adams, I could kiss your brother!" Sirius enthused when they both got up to get the next round. "That was bloody amazing."

Marlene ordered a round of Tequilas before turning back to Sirius, "I don't think Ella or my brother will be pleased to hear that."

Sirius grinned. "Never know, Ella could be into it."

Marlene scrunched her face. "Please, I'd be surprised if you two even shagged yet."

Sirius wagged his finger, "My lips are sealed."

"Oh come on!" she groaned. "You haven't even said anything to Remus and she won't bloody say a word."

"Don't think no one's noticed the little gossip deal you and Remus have going on."

Marlene giggled. "You could always join," she offered.

"I have enough drama in my life," Sirius sighed dramatically, but what he really meant was that he already knew all the drama.

The bartender gave them a tray with all the shots and Marlene paid quickly before heading back to the table.

"Who's ready to get drunk on whatever Marly ordered for us?" he shouted, dropping into the seat next to Ella, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He wasn't really sure how or what they were.

They were friends and they snogged and did _stuff_ but they hadn't put a label on it but everyone knew they were together. They kind of just fell into it and Sirius figured that that would probably be the only way he could handle a relationship and maybe he just got lucky when he fell into one with someone who was as fucked up as he was.

Everyone drank, continuing their buzz from all the beer they drank at the concert until Lily shouted, "We're so fucked. How the hell are we," burped mid-sentence, "Going to apparate?"

James laughed at her as Frank said, "No one is apparating. We'll stay in the rooms upstairs until we're at least halfway sober. I booked five rooms."

Adaline groaned. "No way am I sharing a room with two boys!"

"Oh, come on, Della, we aren't that bad!" Peter protested. He nudged Remus, "Moony we aren't _that bad_ are we?"

"'Course not!" Sirius bellowed, "They're great lads!"

"Oh come on, Della, take one for the team!" Marlene pouted.

"You just want to screw your boyfriends!"

"Is that such a bad thing?" Nate asked and Adaline threw a peanut at him.

James leaned down to Lily's ear, "Race you to the room?"

Lily looked at him, grinning and he held up their room key. "G'night everyone!" Lily giggled as she jumped out of her seat and raced away from James who was quick to catch up to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her into him, catching her mouth with hers as she giggled.

"No, Jems! We're racing!"

"Fuck that," he muttered, still kissing her.

Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, jumping up to wrap her legs around his waist.

"Oi! Get a room!" Alice shouted at them.

"Yeah!" Sirius agreed, throwing a peanut at them.

Lily flipped the group off as they all started throwing peanuts at them as James walked them to the stairwell up to the rooms, their lips hardly parting for air. James clumsily unlocked the door as Lily nibbled at his neck, driving him completely mad. He slammed the door closed behind them and then threw Lily onto the bed as she squealed and giggled as he climbed on top of her, taking his shirt off in the process.

Lily clapped and cheered, "I have such a hot boyfriend."

James leaned down, his lips at her neck as he kissed her softly, "I have a hot girlfriend."

"Yeah, you do."

He attacked at her lips again as he pulled her shirt out from her skirt, pulling it up over her head to expose her black, lace bra. He kissed the spot in between her breasts and unzipped her skirt, kissing down her stomach as he pulled the skirt down her legs, her hands in his hair and then at his face, pulling his glasses off and banging them onto the side table. James made his way back up once the skirt was discarded on the floor and Lily worked on unbuttoning his jeans, her hands grazing against his stomach lightly as his lips met hers, his hands behind her back unclasping her bra.

James and Lily didn't get much sleep throughout the night, both waking each other up with kisses and perhaps the funniest time was when they lay side by side, staring at the ceiling and Sirius and Ella, well, weren't being the quietest. So despite them being tight lipped on the whole thing, everyone knew now.

"Oh, there! Right there! Oh, fuck — Sirius!"

James and Lily glanced at each other. "They could at least cast a silencing charm."

"Wanna give them a run for their money?" Lily grinned wickedly and James nodded but she pushed him back off, "No!" she giggled, "If we go again I swear I'm not going to be able to walk right tomorrow."

"And that's a bad thing?" he asked and she kissed his lips, rolling on top of him, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Mmm!" she moaned loudly.

"Oh yeah!"

"That's it, keep going! Harder!" she shouted louder and James and Lily continued in this fashion until someone banged on the wall.

"Oi! Can you four keep it down! People are trying to sleep!" Nate shouted from the room next to Lily and James.

Lily and James giggled together and James called back, "You're doing it wrong, mate!"

"Did you forget the silencing charm?" they heard Ella ask Sirius.

"Yes, he did!" James shouted back and the next thing sounded like a slap and an, "Ow!"

James and Lily giggled even harder and cuddled into each other, Lily's head on James' chest. They eventually fell asleep and they slept, curled up into each other in their underwear under the thick, itchy blankets until they were cruelly waken by Sirius and Remus bursting into their room.

"Time to get up and go!"

"Go 'way!" Lily mumbled.

"If we aren't back before breakfast, McGonagall will have our heads!" Remus pointed out. "And I rather like having my head so _get up_! Up! Up! Up!"

"Jems," Lily whined, burying her head into his shoulder, "Make him stop!"

"Lily Evans! Get up!" Marlene came bursting in and with no thought, ripped the blankets off her and James and Lily shot up, fumbling for the blankets again.

"Marly!"

"Oh God! I'm sorry!" She covered her eyes with her hands.

"Sirius, I swear if you're looking," James warned as he threw Lily her shirt and she quickly pulled it on, searching for her skirt.

"We are currently staring at a very lovely wall," Sirius replied as Lily threw James his jeans. "And why is it just me? Remus is here too!"

"It's only fucking six," Lily cursed. "You know, you guys could leave," Lily suggested. "So we could get changed."

"Not convinced you wouldn't go back to bed," Marlene commented and Lily humphed as she tugged her skirt on.

"James, zip me," she demanded holding the skirt up. He came over and quickly pulled the zipper up.

"All right, we're decent," Lily declared as James buttoned his jeans.

Marlene peaked through her fingers before dropping her hand. Lily pulled her jacket on and yawned.

"I am so tired and so bloody hungover."

"Pub has coffee," Marlene offered as Lily rammed her head into James' chest and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head.

"Come on, love. Sooner we get to Hogwarts, sooner we can crawl up in bed."

She nodded and followed the boys out of the room, though still mainly leaning on James, her head never lifting off his shoulder. Her head was pounding as though someone was playing a drum set in there and her eyes just wanted to close and god damn it was the sun a present from the freaking devil?

Adaline handed her a pair of sunglasses and Lily shoved them on her face gratefully as Ella handed out mugs of steaming coffee.

"Supposed to help with a hangover," Ella told Frank.

They quickly drank up and though Lily did feel less like she was going to die, the coffee didn't do much and so, they left the pub looking like trainwrecks and found a deserted alleyway to apparate from and appeared in Hogsmeade moments later.

The trip back to the Gryffindor common room was smooth up until they bumped right into Professor McGonagall.

* * *

None of them seemed particularly phased to be sitting opposite Professor McGonagall in her office. In fact, all of them rather looked like this was all a big inconvenience into their sleeping schedules.

"Would you like to explain to me where all of you were last night?" Professor McGonagall asked.

No one else offered anything and James knew the boys would follow whatever he said so he started, thinking fast. "We all left to hang out in an empty classroom, you know try to do a bit of fun studying and relax a little. NEWTs are getting to us, Professor."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow at this story. "Why are you all dressed like that?"

"Er," James paused and Sirius chimed in, "Disguise practice for Defence. Dressing like muggles. We might've gotten a little carried away."

"A lot carried away," Remus agreed. "We fell asleep, honestly can't believe we did."

"I completely freaked when we woke up this morning," Marlene agreed. "We were supposed to be back at the tower before curfew. We're so sorry, Professor McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall eyed them all sternly before sighing. "Very well, fifty points for being out of bed after curfew and if I find out anything else went on last night other than the events described to me, you will all be sitting in weekend detentions until the school year finishes," she warned.

James wasn't particularly phased about that. The only people who knew were sitting in that office and none of them would rat the rest out.

"Evans, Potter, the Headmaster has asked to see you tonight in his office at eight. You may all go."

They all left without being asked twice and graciously thanking McGonagall on her way out and then they all streamlined for their beds where they all caught up on much needed sleep that perhaps the most memorable night in their lives had caused.

Well into the afternoon, they all congregated outside, laying and sitting on the grass under the weak sun talking about nothing in particular. Lily and Remus quizzed each other on Defence theories and somehow roped the rest of them into joining before they started wondering aloud about life after Hogwarts.

Things would be different. This summer would be different. There would be curfews and looking for jobs and James was nervous as hell for his Puddlemere United trial which was only two weeks after school finished. Everyone told him he'd be fine and he'd make the team, Lily and Sirius especially but James didn't want to take any chances. He reckoned he was the most fit he'd ever been in his life, Lily had said so herself.

"It's going to be weird working for the Ministry," Lily mused. She'd applied for an internship in the Charms Development sector and her acceptance had been owled back to her only last week.

"Tell me about it," Ella muttered. "It's like the Ministry are idiots but we're going to be one of those idiots."

"That's why you go travelling first," Adaline announced.

"Where to first, Della?"

"I'm starting in America. Visiting my brother and his wife and then down to South America, Peru, Brazil, Chile. Then nothing is really set in stone after that. I'll see where life takes me I suppose."

They continued chatting outside under the dying sun until it was time for dinner and James didn't think any of them had been this relaxed in a while even if not everyone had their plans for after Hogwarts figured out and even if they were all worried about the war that raged.

* * *

Lily jittered as they walked up to Dumbledore's office. The meeting was an odd request and a vague one and it made Lily nervous especially because they'd spent the previous night sneaking off to London and she wasn't quite sure the hungover look had passed.

So it stopped Lily cold when Dumbledore said, "There is a resistance, underground and separate from the Ministry, against Lord Voldemort and his followers. In recent meetings, I have been urged to offer some trustworthy students the opportunity to join."

"Sir?" Lily prompted.

"I have been led to believe that you and your friends would be willing to fight against Voldemort," Dumbledore continued. "If you could please hand these out to the people who's names are on the envelopes." Dumbledore pointed to a stack of envelopes. "You don't have to decide now, a meeting will be held two nights before school ends at the location specified in the envelopes and you can inform me of your decision then. Please, think carefully about your decision."

Lily grabbed the envelopes and flicked through, looking at the names. There were at least thirty envelopes. A lot of Gryffindor names she noted. Some Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw but none from Slytherin.

"Be discrete in handing out the envelopes."

"What does the resistance do exactly?" James asked.

"We fight Voldemort, try to thwart his plans as best as we can."

"Is it dangerous?" Lily asked, already knowing the answer. She saw how Alice sighed with relief every time a letter came from her sister.

"Many would argue it is dangerous everywhere in times like these," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps if enough people rise up against Voldemort, times won't be so dangerous anymore."

James and Lily left Dumbledore's office feeling dazed and shocked. They'd been invited to join the Order of The Phoenix and had been tasked with informing fellow students.

A blur of emotions stroked through Lily. So many things would be changing and this was just one more thing to add. She'd be fighting against Voldemort. There was no choice to make. When school finished she'd be taking an active part in the war and it both terrified her and relieved her. Relieved her because she felt some semblance of control even if it was as minuscule as taking part in a resistance against the man that threatened her very existence in this world.

"Do you think there'll be a lot of action?" James asked.

"You mean like fighting," Lily nodded. "I reckon yeah."

"You scared?"

She shook her head. "You?"

He shook his head and maybe that was the biggest lie they ever told each other.

* * *

"We're going to save the world," Sirius Black told Ella Dearborn as they lay in his bed on a Sunday afternoon when they should've been studying. He could see it too. He could easily imagine himself the hero, well one of the heroes, of this war. He could have it all. The girl, the glory and he believed that down to his core because why should he believe any different?

"The Ministry's saying they'll have him defeated quickly. A year or two tops," Ella said. "We might not even be able to do a lot to help."

"The Ministry can't tell a bag of dicks from a bag of wands."

Ella snorted. "Classy."

"Are you really going to stay with your brother after Hogwarts?"

"That is the plan," Ella agreed.

"What if there could be a different plan? One where you and me move in together."

Ella propped herself up on her elbow to look at him. "And how are we going to afford an apartment?" Her inquisitive, know it all look had him smiling.

"The Ministry owled me the other day. Department of Birth, Deaths and Marriages. My Uncle Alphard died. He was never disowned but he never exactly agreed with the lot of them. He — he left me and Andromeda everything he owned. Split down the middle. Fifty-fifty."

"So you're rich again?"

"Rich enough to buy myself an apartment and offer you to live with me rent free."

"Well," Ella said, inching closer to his face, "How could I refuse such a romantic offer?"

"Would be crazy to really."

"I think so, too." Ella pressed her lips on his with a smile. "And I'm sorry about your Uncle."

Sirius shrugged. "He was one of the decent ones, not decent enough to help me out when he was alive but decent enough."

Ella kissed him again because she didn't really know how to respond to that and then things got carried away and ended with Remus and Peter walking in on them.

"Merlin's christ, you said you were studying!" Remus cried and Sirius barked out laughing as he pulled a blanket over himself and Ella.

"Yeah, each other," Peter remarked as Remus slammed the door closed again.

* * *

She looked at the envelope and wanted to rip it up. No one would know. Except Dumbledore but she could just feign ignorance. _Oh, was there really a letter for Helena Bonham? I hadn't the faintest!_

"Are you just going to stare at it until it disintegrates?" Marlene asked.

"Possibly. I mean I hate her."

"You don't hate anyone."

"I hate her."

"Now you know how infuriating it was when you befriended Mia Slut."

"So not the same thing," Lily exclaimed. "I told her that James and I are married! That is a belief she now has because I _lied_! Besides, we should really be studying for Transfiguration because none of it is sticking in my head and if I have to get James to help me one more time, I might have to punch him right in his smug, condescending and gorgeous face … which I'm not a fan of because of the gorgeous part."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yep."

"Or maybe you're just avoiding him because of the letter."

"Well, of course I am because I'm being unreasonable and jealous. Basically, I'm being you," Lily deadpanned. "And I hate it."

"Hey!"

"I have turned into you. I am jealous of a gorgeous Hufflepuff who is into James and I'm still jealous even knowing that James has absolutely no interest in her."

"I am taking so much offence right now!"

"She's just so annoying. She glares at me, Marly! Glares at me! Like I've done something wrong!"

"Oh just give her the letter and be over it," was Marlene's stellar advice, advice that Lily took the very next day when she approached Helena Bonham after breakfast because even though Lily knew that Marlene would never take that advice, it is the advice Lily would have given to Marlene if the situations were reversed.

It didn't even have to be that big of a deal. Lily could be an adult about this.

"Bonham!" she called. "Can I have a word?"

"Oh, of course." Helena stepped away from her friends and followed Lily to a deserted part of the Entrance Hall. "This isn't about James is it? Because I'm over that."

A tight smile stretched across Lily's face. "No, it's not about James. I — this is actually rather important," Lily opened the door beside them and gestured for Helena to step in.

"Is that really necessary?"

"I'd rather not have people overhear us. Please," Lily added.

Helena rolled her eyes but stepped into the empty classroom and Lily followed, closing the door behind them.

"I don't know if you know anything about this — my friends and I sort of had an inkling before Dumbledore approached James and I but anyways — not the point."

"What is the point?"

"Professor Dumbledore has started a resistance against Voldemort. He's invited you to join." Lily handed her the envelope with her name on it. "Inside the envelope is some general information and when and where the meeting will be held."

"Meeting?"

"Right, the meeting is when everyone informs Dumbledore of their decision to either join or not to join."

"I have a choice?"

"Of course, I did say it was an invitation. The letter explains all of it so give it a read and, uh, think about it. Oh, also don't tell anyone else."

"So have you joined already then?"

"No, no. I'll be at that meeting, too. James and I are just the messengers," Lily shrugged. "I took the girls, he took the guys."

"Must've sucked when you found out I was on the list."

The tight smile was back. "You've no idea." Lily clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh, God! I'm sorry! That was — that was so rude!"

But Helena was biting back a laugh. "It's okay, Evans. You've done your job."

"Right, you've got the envelope and I'm going to go."

Lily fumbled with the door before stepping out and closing it behind her, letting a shiver rush through her. She didn't want to sound selfish, she wasn't a selfish person, but Merlin she hoped to God that Helena Bonham decided not to join but of course that sounded entirely selfish and Lily pushed it out of her mind.

She bumped straight into Mia who had been giving Lily the cold shoulder since James' birthday.

"He broke up with me," Mia blurted out and at a closer look, Lily noticed the red around her eyes and nose.

"Oh, Mia," Lily started but Mia shrugged out of Lily's grasp.

"I — just leave me alone."

Mia stalked off and Lily slumped. She wanted to help Mia but she didn't know how. Mia hadn't talked to her in weeks and Lily had given her space but she couldn't just leave Mia alone right now.

"Lily!"

"James," she sighed with relief. "God, this day is already the worst."

"His face isn't that bad," Remus chimed as Lily leaned up to press a kiss to James' lips.

"I don't think I'm the cause of the bad day but thanks for the back-up, Moony."

"Any time."

They walked into breakfast together as Lily spilled about giving Helena Bonham the letter and then about Mia.

"I don't think this can count as the _worst_ day," Remus pointed out.

"It has the makings of one," Lily retorted darkly.

"Well, the Bonham thing is done and as for Mia … maybe have a chat with her brother. You know, let him know that Mia's not doing so well socially right now."

"Oh, yeah. Scott — what's his name?" James asked clicking his fingers.

Lily nodded, "Yeah, the guy who, uh, who pushed you up against the wall when everyone thought you were a muggle-born serial killer. What _is_ his name?"

"John?" James suggested.

"No, you're thinking of Nate's friend John Gurt," Remus shook his head.

"No, that's Jonah," Lily corrected.

Remus frowned, thinking. "I think it's like Greg or George or something. He'd be Ravenclaw, right?"

Lily shrugged, "Mia is but he could be Hufflepuff. He's not in our year right?"

"If he is, we are highly unobservant people," Remus commented.

"Right, so sixth year, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff," Lily decided, though the whole unobservant thing was entirely plausible, after all, Remus did think Jonah Gurt's name was John and they lived a room away from each other.

* * *

"You need to stop asking around about my brother," Mia told Lily.

It hadn't taken Lily longer than a day to find out that George Scott had dropped out of school. It was actually really easy when she thought about it. She approached the Ravenclaw prefects and asked, "Do you know where I can find Mia Scott's brother?" They'd stared at her like she'd grown two heads and informed her that he'd dropped out. Apparently, they reiterated the information to Mia.

"How come he dropped out of Hogwarts and you stayed?"

"I — we had a choice and I chose Hogwarts, he didn't."

"So what he's at another school? Durmstrang or Beauxbatons?"

"No, I'm sure my parents have found my brother the most highly sought after muggle tutors."

"I don't understand," Lily admitted. "He's not learning magic?"

"New Year's Eve. My older sister … she died. Kathy Beauchamp. She married a half-blood about three years ago and they both worked at the Ministry so they went to the party."

"I'm so, so sorry, Mia," Lily whispered.

"My parents were minding my nephew when it … yeah and they were devastated. Told George and I that we wouldn't be going back to Hogwarts. I snuck out on September first and an owl arrived the next day from my parents telling me not to come home."

"And George?"

"He didn't want to come back but I had to, Lily," Mia said, almost pleading for Lily to understand her. "I had to. I am magic, magic is me. I couldn't just cut it off and pretend it didn't exist, it's a part of me. It's who I am."

Lily wrapped her arms around Mia and said, "I know, I know. Where are you going for the summer?"

"I," Mia shrugged helplessly, "I don't know."

Without even thinking about it she said, "You'll come home with me."

Lily really hadn't thought out the logistics of that but Lily was sure her mum would be fine about it and if she wasn't, well, Lily had a month to convince her mum to be okay with it. It wasn't like they didn't have the room.

"Oh, I couldn't," Mia shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mia. You'll stay with me for the summer."

Petunia would be a problem but it wasn't like she lived at home anymore so as long as Rosie agreed, it would be fine.

That night, Lily wrote a letter to her mum, explaining Mia's circumstances and if she could please stay over for the summer because she had nowhere else to go.

* * *

"Five ways to identify an inferi?" Nate asked her.

"They're gross," Marlene mumbled from where she lay, face into the carpet, in front of the couch that her boyfriend was sitting on cross legged.

"Well, you're not wrong but that is not the answer your NEWT examiner is looking for."

"Honestly, Nate," she said rolling over and propping her head up, "You could stab me a thousand times with a knife right now and it would be more preferable than sitting here and studying for Defence when my head is so full and it's _tomorrow_!"

"I give it an 'E'," Nate declared, who, in the spirit of all the studying and exams, had began grading Marlene's level of dramatic outbursts. He lowered himself on the floor though in front of Marlene. "You know the answers. You should take a break."

"You should take a break."

"I have, several in fact."

"You should study," she changed her tactic and then, "Oh! Maybe I should test you!"

"Will it make you feel better?" he asked and in response, she held out her hand for the flash cards. Nate passed them over somewhat reluctantly and she started quizzing him relentlessly until the flash cards whizzed out of her hands into the hands of Alice who flopped onto the couch.

"It is eleven thirty eight the night before the Defence exam. If you don't know the answers by now, you're screwed."

"You interrupting us isn't helping!" Marlene pouted.

"I've got something that might," Alice dangled. "Duelling comp in the study room. James and Sirius set it up. You know, kick off some steam but helps with the practical and the exam tomorrow doesn't start til after lunch."

Nate stood up straight away. "We're going."

* * *

The seventh years filed out of their Transfiguration exam, Lily zigzagged through the tables trying to find her friends. She latched onto Ella first.

"That may have been the worst thing ever," Lily groaned, resting her head on Ella's shoulder.

"The boys are going to be insufferable."

"Hello, ladies," Sirius Black wrapped his arms around both girls shoulders, squeezing himself between the two. "That was a piece of cake."

"Speak for yourself," Peter grumbled. "The only part that made sense in mine was the animagus part."

"Seriously?" Ella sighed. "That is just one thing that I could never get. I was missing at least three steps."

"Hands off my girl, Padfoot," James demanded jokingly as he slipped his hand into Lily's. "How'd you find it?"

"Do you think they'd still owl my results if I became a hermit in the Amazon?"

James chuckled. "I'm sure you did fine."

Lily poked her tongue out. "I'm just glad I don't need Transfiguration for the Charms Development program."

"You're going to smash both Charms and Potions, probably Defence too."

"I think I can handle failing everything else as long as I do well in those subjects," Lily reasoned.

"Realistic goals," Peter nodded. "I've just accepted I'm failing everything already."

"Oh, you will not," Ella hushed him. "Where's everyone else?"

Sirius shrugged. "Probably at the lake."

That's where they headed, out of the shadowy castle and out into the fresh sun of the new summer. They joined the rest of the girls and Remus under a tree by the lake and as soon as they made themselves comfortable, Lily slipped out of her shoes and socks, using her robes as a blanket for her and James to stretch out on. Adaline and Alice sat a few meters away, revising for the practical which was tomorrow morning.

"Two more exams and then freedom," Sirius declared and Lily could feel it in her bones, the excitement of no upcoming exams or homework or assignments. Just life. After Herbology and Potions, they'd be leaving Hogwarts behind.

"Then the Order," Marlene corrected, "And work."

"At least we'll be at the Ministry together," Ella said to Lily. "We can meet up for lunch sometimes."

"If I do well in my NEWTs."

Ella rolled her eyes, "You will. You'll smash them."

"Don't mind Ella, she's like Nate. They don't have to worry about NEWTs," Marlene said.

"Hey, Sirius doesn't even have a job lined up," Ella argued. "Just because my job isn't exactly NEWT based."

"Is it really my fault I was left a large inheritance and the only thing I want to do, they won't let me do?" Sirius asked.

"You could find something else," Lily pointed out.

"He likes being bored too much," James joked and Sirius threw a piece of grass at him. "Besides, who else is going to help me train?"

"There we go," Sirius announced, "Job found. I'll be James' manager when he becomes a famous Quidditch player."

"Absolutely not," Lily refused. "Remus will be his manager."

"Ouch, Evans."

"You can be my trainer," James offered.

"What'll Peter be then? We gotta have the dream team in on all this," Marlene said.

"Peter can fetch the Quaffle if we drop it."

"Oi!" Peter kicked Sirius as he sniggered.

"Nah, Pete doesn't need a job," Sirius announced. "You're going to take over your dad's shop, right?"

"That is the plan. Maybe I'll employ you."

"Please," Sirius snorted.

They stayed out for almost two hours before they trudged back into the castle feeling content. They all headed up to their secret study room where they spent the next few hours practicing the spells that would be tested for the Transfiguration practical.

* * *

The very last Slug Club. Lily had been lazy and hadn't gone to one all year though in saying that Professor Slughorn had been lazy too. He'd only held two the entire year, this one being the second.

A mix of students from fourth year and above, each house represented, mingled with Slughorn's esteemed guests under the soft glow the candles cast. Food was being served by waiters, all fancy delicacies that no student actually liked — things like Dragon balls and grindylow livers. Things that people told you were actually quite nice but sounded disgusting and, in Lily's opinion, were disgusting. Sirius was one of those people who told you they were actually quite nice and Lily scrunched up her face in an attempt to stop from gagging as he ate cockatrice eyeballs.

"Seriously, Sirius," Marlene had a similar expression to Lily's, "If you keep eating that, I'm going to hurl and I'll hurl on you since you made me hurl."

"It's nice!" he protested, "James, tell them."

"To be honest, mate, I'm going to have to agree with them on this one."

"I don't," Ella said appearing with a napkin full of Merlin knew what. "This stuff is great."

Marlene and Lily glanced at each other in a way that said _purebloods_.

"So is anyone actually going to mingle with anyone?" James asked.

"Professor Slughorn wants me to meet the Head of Potions Development."

"Sounds a drag."

"So does crashing a Slug Club party and yet here you are," Lily fired back sweetly.

"I've never been to one," Sirius shrugged. "Last chance and all."

"Uh-huh," Lily said, "If you so much as spike the punch, I'm going to-"

"What? Put me in detention?" he asked with the smirk that had been driving Lily insane since exams ended a day ago.

The smirk had been adopted by all the Marauders as soon as they were let out of their Herbology practical exactly eighteen hours ago. It was this air of sudden freedom they had been waiting to indulge in since they first stepped foot into Hogwarts, you see, the teachers of Hogwarts, and everyone who lived in the school really, were in the merciless period.

The merciless period is the magical week after exams finished but before classes let out. It is both merciless and magical because it is the one week in their entire Hogwarts career that is truly and utterly consequence free. They never have to come back to Hogwarts after this and what are the teachers going to do if they decide to erect fountain in the middle of the Great Hall, a Hogwarts parody of the Fountain of Magical Brethren. A stone Professor Dumbledore had water spurting out of his hat as stone versions of all the other teachers — varying in size depending on rank as depicted by the Marauders — looked adoringly at Dumbledore.

Lily had watched this morning as Professor McGonagall actually struggled to do anything at all constructive to punish the four boys because honestly, it was their last week. Ravenclaw had already won the House Cup and no one wanted to supervise a detention this close to the end of term so she let them off. Of course, the only thing Lily had found more astounding was when Professor Ollivander talked Filch out of giving the Marauders a detention when he caught them on the brink of curfew the previous night with the map. She hadn't been able to talk him out of confiscating the map , but they'd been spared detentions.

It had led to a rather amusing night actually as Sirius was to blame for the map confiscation for not following the plan, his punishment had been to dress up in Ella's night gown, hair and make-up and the whole lot — there was photographic evidence and enough of it to fill a scrapbook.

The four of them were free of consequences and they had seven years worth of pranks they'd been dying to do which brought her back to _the smirk_.

"I think spiking the punch with a little firewhiskey would go unnoticed considering it was the first thing I did and you're on your third cup," the words left the smirk of Remus and Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"You are all alike," she said darkly as Sirius and James congratulated Remus on his bit of pranking.

"You really didn't know it was spiked?" Marlene asked. "Why do you think I've had five cups already?"

"It is literally the only redeeming quality this party has," James agreed.

"Yes, well if you didn't completely show off in your Transfiguration practical so much that the examiner told Professor Slughorn about it, you wouldn't have been invited," Lily pointed out.

"It's not my fault I'm just _that_ good," James smirked, "and honestly, it's about time old Sluggy recognised my potential."

Lily snorted, "Yeah, potential for trouble." She caught a glimpse of Dean Nettles and Kevin Chang from Ravenclaw who seemed to be discussing something heavily and with a lowered voice she asked, "Do you think everyone will join the you-know-what?"

"We all are so that's like ten off the wand," Remus considered.

"That's less than half," James pointed out, "There were twenty-four envelopes."

"They'd be stupid not to join," Sirius said. "War will only be longer if people aren't willing to help."

"There are other ways to help besides joining a secret resistance speared by Dumbledore," Marlene defended. "And it'll be dangerous."

"A few scratches and bruises will be worth it," Sirius considered. "Besides all we're going to be doing is messing around with Slytherin idiots and we do that here."

"Basically experts at it," James agreed. "Even Lily can knock out three with one slash of her wand."

Lily grinned, "I did do that. It was quite spectacular."

"Ah, Miss Evans!" Professor Slughorn's voice boomed as he approached the group with a man in his late forties tagging along. "This is Mr Harland Bodine, Head of Potions Development at the Ministry. Harland, this is Lily Evans. My star student in potions."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Bodine," Lily greeted, shaking the man's hand. He was taller than Slughorn and weak lines ran from the corner of his eyes, a hint of old age but not quite there yet. "This is James Potter," she further introduced.

"Pleasure is mine, Miss Evans, Mr Potter. Horace simply raves about you. I was rather disappointed to hear you'd decided on the internship in Charms Development."

"Professor Flitwick is always mentioning your amazing Charms assignments," Professor Slughorn said, with impressed eyes and a firm nod.

"It was a close call," Lily told Bodine. "But I got the owl from Charms Development first and sort of took it as a sign."

"Ah, at least I can blame the owls now," Bodine joked. "Feel free to drop by our floor sometime, maybe we can persuade you to swap."

Lily smiled, "Thank you for the offer, Mr Bodine."

"One I sorely hope you'll take up," Bodine said, "We could use a fresh mind like yours and your essay was simply marvellous."

Lily flushed, flattered, "Oh, well thank you, Mr Bodine."

Bodine flashed a smile at Lily before turning his attention to James. "James Potter? You wouldn't be the son of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter?"

"That would be me," James confirmed.

"We've been trying to get your dad to consult with us for years."

"Dad doesn't like the Ministry much."

"So he's said. If you could mention to him that there's a potion we're working on, we'd be grateful for a second opinion and, Miss Evans, I'd be happy to show it to you if you decide to pop over one day for a tour. It's great stuff."

"Well, now you've gone and got us all curious, Harland," Slughorn said, "You'll have to give us a hint."

"It'd be my job if anyone found out I discussed specifics outside of the lab but, Mr Potter, please urge your father to come passed one day."

"I'll pass along the message," James assured.

"Marvellous — oh, that's Bathilda Bagshot," Bodine said, "I simply have to say hello. Excuse me." Like that Bodine was off and Slughorn looked at Sirius with a frown.

"Were you invited?"

"I'm hurt, Professor that you don't remember inviting the one and only Sirius Black."

Perhaps deciding that jesting with Sirius was out of his headspace, Professor Slughorn said, "Yes, yes. Must've slipped my mind. Miss Evans, I do hope you take Harland up on his offer to see the labs at the Ministry. Not many people are offered invitations to just have a poke around."

"I'll owl you all about it, Professor," Lily assured him. "And Professor, I thought I'd just mention that I've left you a present on your desk."

"Oh my dear, how generous!" Professor Slughorn beamed. "You didn't have to go through the trouble." Though the look on his face suggested he would have been severely disappointed if she hadn't.

"It's just a thank you for all you've done for me over the years. The extra credit projects and always answering questions that I had even if it was on your way to dinner or breakfast or ate into your lunch time. I'm extremely grateful to have been taught by you, Professor Slughorn."

"Oh, dear me," he said, dabbing at his eye, "Something seems to have gotten stuck in my eye. Miss Evans, it was truly an honour to have taught you."

Professor Slughorn left quickly after, expressing once again that something was in his eyes as he dabbed furiously at the moisture in the corner. James sniggered as soon as he was out of earshot.

"You made Slughorn cry."

"It was sweet," Lily insisted.

* * *

Twenty-four of them sat in a room, waiting for Professor Dumbledore. It was all very anti-climatic when he entered. He sat at the front of the room and said, "Those who have decided not to join, may leave."

Not a sound piqued and then, Alison Hopkins stood and walked out, Daisy Ellery followed. Xander Bishop left too taking his girlfriend, Lisa Pinnock with him who left behind her best friend, Heather Shacklebolt. Silence peaked again under Professor Dumbledore's sparkling gaze.

"Heather, don't, please come," Lisa pleaded when she reached the door.

"I can't not do it."

"You'll get yourself killed."

Maybe, that was what really made it real for them. This was maybe the biggest thing they'd ever be a part of in their lives and joining may very well cut that life short but Heather put it so simply. Not Lily, nor James, not anyone sitting in that room could deny it and say it wasn't true. It was just two words.

"This matters," Heather said and just like that Lisa Pinnock walked out of the room and Heather Shacklebolt stayed.

Dumbledore surveyed the room, eyeing each student that remained and in return, each student stared at Dumbledore, waiting. They didn't quite know what they were waiting for. They didn't know how any of this was actually supposed to work but they waited for Dumbledore to tell them what to do.

"Just so we are all clear, raise your hands if you wish to join the resistance?"

Twenty hands rose into the air.

"Very well, welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."

* * *

 _A/N: Hi everyone! This concludes their time at Hogwarts as students!_

 _Thank you for reading and fair warning if you like canon stories I suggest you stop reading here because since I've decided this will be a JILY LIVES AU, not everything is to canon. Though I do hope you'll give it a chance :)_

 _The holy trinity: review, follow, favourite. Seriously it saves lives ( well, mine at least)_

 _-Natalie xx_


	28. Chapter 27: It Goes On

"Oh, my boy!" Euphemia exclaimed, opening her arms only for Sirius to stick his leg out and trip James so he could all but tackle Euphemia in a bear hug.

"Missed you, too, mum," Sirius grinned, kissing her cheek. "Where's dad?"

Euphemia smiled softly and gave Sirius her own kiss on the cheek and James couldn't blame her. Sirius only called them mum and dad when he was being emotional and didn't want to actually show it. James thought the extra hug was a bit much though.

"All right, how about you remember there are two of us?" James suggested to his mother.

Euphemia gave him the same smile she gave Sirius and embraced him in a tight hug. "Has it only been since January? I feel like your hair's grown a mile. We'll have Sprinkle give it a trim, yeah?" she ruffled his hair. "Where's Lily?"

"Mia!" Lily smiled, seemingly coming out of nowhere and dragging her own mum with her. "Mum! This is James' mum, Mia Potter. Mia, this is my mum, Rosie."

"Found her," James joked. "So nice to see you again, Rosie."

"Oh, and you and I must say thank you on Petunia's behalf for the lovely wedding gift. The mirror was simply, well, I've never seen one like it."

"That's because it's goblin made," Mia smiled proudly. "Best of its kind."

Rosie looked at Lily, "Maybe we won't tell Petunia that."

"You gave a muggle a goblin made mirror?" Sirius asked. "What if the goblins go after it?"

"Goblins aren't going to go after my sister in Surrey," Lily protested. "Mum, I can't remember if you've met Sirius."

"Oh, James' best friend, right?"

"Good to know I'm famous."

"Shut up, Padfoot," James said exasperated. "Sorry, he was raised by wolves."

"Literally," Sirius muttered.

"Uh-huh, so, Monty and I were talking the other day and saying how lovely it would be to have you over at our house for dinner sometime!" Euphemia offered and effectively changing the subject from Sirius' parents. "After-all our kids are pretty close, from what Sirius tells me everyone seems to be under the illusion that they're married." Euphemia smirked at the two and James grinned sheepishly, held his hands up and said, "That's really not my fault."

"Oh, don't act like you ever denied it." Lily glared at Sirius as if to say, _Black, I'm going to murder you and make it look like an accident,_ and in James' opinion she was conveying the point just fine.

"Oh, well," Rosie said quite flustered. "That would be lovely!"

"It will be, but after my try-outs," James said, "I don't think I could handle the stress of try-outs and dinner with my parents, Lily's mum and Sirius."

"You act like I'd tell them about how Lily threw you a massive party on the Quidditch pitch and punched Mulciber in the face."

"Because you tell my mother everything," James groaned.

"Since when do you punch people?" Mia pursed her lips at James.

"Right, well this was brill," Lily announced, "But we should really get going, mum."

"Yes, of course … you threw a party? Did the teachers know about it?" Rosie asked her daughter and Lily sent another glare at Sirius.

"Let's go mum," Lily insisted. "Bye, Mia. James," she pulled him in for a quick hug, whispered in his ear that she'd see him soon and then turned to Sirius with a scathing stare and said, "Black."

The three of them watched as the Evans's walked away, the same height, the same red hair though Rosie's was coiled into a knot at the base of her neck and Lily's hung loose down her back.

"It's like Lily takes Polyjuice Potion all year around," Euphemia remarked before turning to her son. "Now, what's this about you punching Dominique Mulciber? I didn't raise you to punch people unless he deserved it. Did he deserve it?"

"He deserved it. He called Lily a whore, mum."

"Oh, well in that case, I hope I taught you to punch hard enough to break his nose."

"Your job as a mother is complete," Sirius declared. "Prongsie here had blood spurting out of the wandless gnomes nose the second his fist collided with his face."

"Wandless gnome, that's a nice one," Euphemia commented.

Sirius shrugged, "My mum called us that if we got less than an 'E'."

At Euphemia's immediate reaction to turn her head ever so casually for the just mentioned woman, James declared, "Let's go home, yeah? I miss the house elves … and dad."

"Oh, why won't you ever let me give that woman a piece of my mind?" Euphemia frowned at her son.

"Come on, mum," James encouraged, "Not here."

Euphemia sighed, but obliged, slipping her arm around Sirius' shoulders and kissing his forehead. "Don't you ever waste your time thinking about anything that came out of the despicable woman's mouth, you hear me? She does not deserve to be your mother."

"It's all right, they gave me a good replacement."

Euphemia smiled at him, squeezing him closer to her. "Let's go home."

"Gee, if only someone else had suggested that just a minute ago."

"Shut up, Potter," Sirius demanded. "I was having a moment with my new mother."

"Quite the upgrade," Euphemia commented with a cheeky smirk and James' mouth dropped in mock disgrace. The three of them mocked and bantered with each other through a pretty summer dinner on the east wing terrace.

* * *

Alice looked around the platform, looking for her sister. It took her a minute or two but Emmeline was there, just behind the McKinnons, her neck craned and eyes searching the platform for Alice.

"Emmy!" Alice called, running over to her sister, floating her trunk beside her.

"Ally!" Emmeline smiled wide, as Alice gave her a big hug.

Alice stepped back after a moment and then frowned. Emmeline had a scar, similar to Lily's, a thin pink line but instead of running across her neck, it ran across her jawline.

"What happened?" Alice asked, moving her sister head to the side so she could inspect it better. "Why didn't you tell me you'd been hurt?"

"It was nothing. Some sort of slicing charm," Emmeline brushed it aside. "Madam Pomfrey had it sorted within a day."

"You were at Hogwarts?"

"Madam Pomfrey doesn't ask questions and she's loyal to Dumbledore," was all Emmeline said on the matter. "We should get home, dad's waiting with the whole family. We've got a bit of a party going for you."

"Oh, Emmy, I don't know — a party?"

She sighed and turned to her sister. "I know it's hard after mum, but dad … he needed the distraction and throwing you a welcome home party has really kept his mind of things the last week or so. Frank's there, too."

"I — we need to announce something at the party."

"Announce what?" Emmeline asked sharply, eyes glancing down to Alice's stomach. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

Alice scowled, "No, not pregnant, but engaged." Alice held her hand up to show off the ring.

"Holy mother of Merlin," Emmeline muttered, grabbing Alice's hand to inspect the cluster of diamonds on Alice's third finger. "When the hell did he get the chance to propose? You've been at school! And why in Agrippa's name didn't you write me?"

"I wanted to tell you in person."

Emmeline hugged her sister again, "Oh Merlin, I can't believe you're getting married!"

"We don't really know when yet but I assume that's going to change once Frank tells Mrs Longbottom."

"You mean he hasn't told her yet?" Emmeline smirked and Alice nodded. "I'd pay to see her reaction first-hand."

"You can come along to tea if you'd like."

"Only if I can bring an invisibility cloak."

Alice laughed, "Come on. Let's go home."

The party was splendid and perhaps the first truly happy event in her family since her mother died. Frank and her announced their engagement and the champagne and firewhiskey flowed. Frank found her leaning on the railing of the porch late in the night — no one had left yet and Alice was just having a moment to herself.

"Are you all right?" he asked, as he placed his arms on either side of hers against the railing and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I was just thinking about mum. How she would have loved to be here. There's just so much I want to tell her about NEWTs and my acceptance into the fast tracked program for the Auror Training. And you — us. I always thought mum would be here for all of it."

"Just because you can't see her doesn't mean she's not watching and I know she's mighty proud of you."

Alice smiled, leaning into him. "Thank you, Frank."

"You're welcome, Alice." He kissed her cheek. "You know, we got through the easy part tonight. Mum's going to be a nightmare."

"The things I do for you," she joked. "Have you told her about tea tomorrow?"

"She's changed it to a lunch with Uncle ()."

"Wonderful."

"It'll be fine."

"If she says one thing about babies, you are under strict _law_ to get me out of there."

"Done, in fact, lets have a signal."

"Oh, a signal. I like that. So undercover. What should it be?"

"Do you play with your ring often?"

"No, not really."

"Okay so if you want out just start twisting the ring around your finger and I'll make us an excuse to leave but we have to at least be there until lunch is finished, deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

"Okay, first things first, honey, you need some new clothes," Rosie told Mia as they unpacked her trunk into Petunia's old closet.

Lily was quite happy with the way Rosie had embraced Mia into their home, not that she didn't expect that of her mother but it was nice to see that her mum would do her best to make sure Mia felt at home. Lily had warned Mia not to tell Rosie about the war or anything particularly political that was happening in their world and Mia had given her her word.

"I had to leave a lot of it behind," Mia explained.

"Not to worry, I'm sure we have a box with some of Lily's old stuff and if you're willing to do a few chores around the house, I'll give you an allowance."

"Oh, Mrs Evans, you don't have to do that, really. I'll help out, you don't have to pay me."

"Nonsense," Rosie waved off. "We're a home not a sweatshop in India."

"She really won't take no for an answer," Lily chimed as she came into the room, her arms full with clean linen for the bed. "Besides, you'll need to have something to do around the house once my internship starts."

"I would be really grateful for an allowance, Mrs Evans," Mia thanked her, as she placed her school books on Petunia's desk. Lily tried not to imagine Petunia's reaction if she ever knew that _Magical Herbs and Fungi_ was sat on her desk.

"Not to worry and please, call me Rosie," Rosie turned to Lily. "Now, will James be visiting a lot this summer?"

"Does it make a difference?" Lily asked.

"Just wanting to know if I should stock the fridge is all."

Lily nodded, "Don't expect him this week. He'll be training like crazy for his trial next Friday so I'll probably have to go over there and drag him off his broom just to get him to take a break."

"As long as you drag him off the broom to come to dinner," Rosie said and Lily took it to heart, bringing James and Sirius for dinner during the week. Lily was grateful that James must have put a leash on Sirius because he was relative tame and didn't announce anything that Lily wouldn't particularly want her mother to know like the fact she's joined an organisation that's combating a terrorist group equivalent to the Nazis or that Lily snuck out to London to see Queen.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages," Lily murmured to James as she hugged him goodbye.

"It hasn't even been a week."

Lily hummed in agreement but she never knew how nice it was too actually have James right there at all hours of the day. She missed being able to tell him everything as soon as it happened. "How's training going?"

James grinned, "They'd be stupid not to take me. What are you doing Saturday night?"

"Nothing."

"Not anymore," he grinned, "We're going for dinner. Just us two. I'll pick you up at seven and you can tell me all about your internship."

"Are you taking me on a date, James Potter?"

"Someone's got to." He leaned in to kiss her.

She smiled into his lips, "We can celebrate you playing professional Quidditch."

"I won't know yet if they take me on," James pointed out.

"They'd be stupid not to take you," Lily used his own words against him and he kissed her slowly.

"Oh, come on, Prongs!" Sirius whined. "Don't make me watch you two snog for twenty minutes."

Lily flipped him off but released James, "Go. I'll see you tomorrow night." He pecked her lips one last time and was off with a hand through his hair and a grin on his lips.

* * *

Miss Amelia Bones showed the group of five interns around the Charms Development lab. Lily had been slightly perplexed to find she was the only girl and the only one picked from Hogwarts. She had, for some reason that wasn't explainable, expected at least one familiar face.

It was exactly as one would expect a lab to be with large wooden tables lined up — six to be exact — all with different groups of people around it and different things on it. The witches and wizards working on projects wore white robes with the Ministry of Magic symbol stitched in black on the left breast.

"You can grab your own lab robe from over there once I finish showing you around," Bones instructed. "We currently have five projects running and you will all be assigned to one. Each project usually has between seven to ten people working on it."

She led the five of them into a corridor off the side, "Here you'll find all the offices — research and development, patents, fund allocation and of course, Dorcas Meadowes' office and for those of you who don't know, she is our department head. Now, over here is our break room though there are other places to eat or grab a coffee in the Ministry — most popular is _Time For A Break_ in the atrium. Lunch is generally taken at one. Any questions?"

The man next to her asked, "Does the ministry pay weekly or fortnightly?"

"Fortnightly."

"Is there a chance for a raise?"

"Not during your internship period. If the department decides to keep you on beyond your internship, there will be a reasonable raise."

"Does the Department usually decide to keep interns on?"

"We're currently in need of two full-time employees and it is most likely that those two positions will be filled by two of you."

Lily suddenly felt very disadvantaged. She was straight out of Hogwarts how could she be expected to compete against people who had clearly had further experience in the field than she did?

"Now, I'll assign you to your project and tell you who you should report to. John West you're on Project Flutter, please report to Julie Mink. George Roberts you're on Project Beehive, please report to Daniel Mathers. Lily Evans, you're on Project Dirigible Plums, please report to Alexina Lovegood. Bob Fuller, you're on Project Keys, please report to Samuel Robins. Gideon Prewett, you're on Project Nifflers, please report to Michael Gray. Good luck everyone on your first day!"

Lily snapped her head over to the last man called out. Gideon Prewett. He was a ginger with freckly skin and honey eyes that crinkled at the corners and she got this feeling in her gut. That feeling someone gets when something is vaguely familiar and he looked so oddly familiar. Lily knew she knew him from somewhere she just couldn't pick where and she didn't have time to think on it as the group dispersed.

Alexina Lovegood turned out to be quite whimsical looking witch. She had soft brown hair that she had tied in a low ponytail and reached the top of her bum. Dangling from her ears were pink strawberries, her wand stuck behind her right ear and a necklace of crystals in different sizes, colours and shapes hung around her neck. Her face was peaceful with calm, silver eyes and thin lips that seemed to naturally smile.

"Hello, you must be Lily Evans! I'm Alexina Lovegood and running this project. If only the nargles would let us make some progress! I'm hoping with your knack at potions and charms, you'll be able to get us out of this rut we're in."

Lily really wanted to ask about the nargles and what they were but she didn't want to seem rude and interrupt so instead she vowed to ask James or Ella about it.

"This is our team," Alexina gestured to the six men around the table and she rattled off a bunch of names that Lily forgot almost instantly. "We have one more on our team but he's out sick today. You'll probably meet him at some point during the week. Oh, I've forgotten to tell you about the project," Alexina laughed lightly and it was like wind chimes. Alexina Lovegood reminded Lily of a pretty summer's day with bees and flowers and babbling streams.

"Project Dirigible Plums is what we're called and you should never talk of projects outside of the lab," she warned. "Now, what we're trying to do is create a charm that can make a potion airborne. Imagine if there were some sort of illness outbreak say in Hogwarts, a flu or a bug, if we can get this charm to work, in theory Madam Pomfrey could make a large vat of Pepper Up, use this charm and the whole thing would spread over Hogwarts, or in theory, any area that you need it for."

"It'd be like the air is healing people," Lily murmured, letting the idea sink in. "That's brilliant!"

"It will be if we can get it to work. We've been working on it for a month now and nothing. We've a test area over here," Alexina pointed to the part of the table with a large mouse cage with four mice running around inside. "We're using fur colour changing potion to test it but as you can see our mice have remained pure white. If we can ever get it to work, all four of them will turn blue."

Alexina spent the rest of the day catching Lily up on all the different equations and methods they've tried but told her it was tricky because the aim of the charm was to work on any potion so it was hard to find a mix that would allow for so many different variables.

By the end of the day, Lily was reeling, her mind exploding with a thousand different ideas on how to make the charm work that she didn't notice the white car sitting out front as she walked up to the door.

"I will not have some freak living in my bedroom!" Petunia's shout could be heard as soon as Lily opened the door.

"Good thing you've moved out and it isn't your bedroom anymore," Lily said stepping into the hallway. Mia was shying away behind Rosie as Petunia stared.

"You!" Petunia growled, whirling around to face Lily. "It's bad enough that you're abnormal but now you're exposing mum to more people like you! You're so selfish!"

"I'm selfish?" Lily laughed. "That's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black! All I've ever done is be me, Petunia and I'm sorry that that offends you but Mia is my friend and she needs a place to stay and mum agreed."

"It isn't safe for anyone to be around people with the likes of you! Why don't you and your friend go stay at that pathetic boy that you call a boyfriend's house?"

"Petunia Evans!" Rosie shouted. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, talking so poorly about your sister and friends of the family! Mia is staying and you can yell about it all you want in your own home but in mine, I will not tolerate it. Apologise to Lily and Mia this instant."

"They aren't friends of _my_ family," Petunia spat before storming out of the house.

* * *

Lunch at Mrs Longbottom's was actually all right. Mrs Longbottom was almost to tears out of happiness that her son would be getting married and she seemed thrilled that it was to Alice and someone call Dumbledore because Mrs Longbottom did not mention babies or ask for a wedding date once. Alice thought there were times when Mrs Longbottom was broaching on the subject but then she suddenly changed direction and asked Alice if she had told her family yet. Alice jumped on that going into a very detailed account of the welcome home party her dad had thrown her last night, even telling Mrs Longbottom that Molly Weasley's children were quite like their uncles and had started a mini cake food fight before their mother put an end to it.

At a quarter to four, Alice announced she had to leave because she was helping Adaline pack for her travels, which was completely true and she apparated off the Longbottom's front step and into Adaline's backyard.

"Alice?" she heard Adaline shout from the upstairs window.

"Hi, Della!"

"Come on up! Mum's in the kitchen!"

Alice trudged her way through the slightly overgrown grass and through the back door. Mrs Bennett greeted Alice from her position over the stove, stirring something that smelled delicious.

"You'll stay for dinner, won't you?"

"Of course," Alice assured. "I wouldn't miss out on whatever's smelling so delicious over there."

"That's a girl. Go on, Del's upstairs."

Alice made her through the hallway and up the stairs. She made her way to Adaline's door and entered without knocking and stopped dead when she saw the mess. The mess consisted of everything that Adaline had ever owned, spread across her queen bed and the floor surrounding it. Shirts lay flat across her bed, jeans hung over the end of her desk chair with jackets piled on top of her desk. On the floor were random loose bits, skirts, pyjamas, coats, robes — Merlin the robes, there was a whole mountain of them — scarves, cocks, gloves, beanies. An open bag of make-up lay spilled on the bed along with a bunch of perfumes.

"What the hell," Alice muttered, bravely stepping in and closing the door behind her.

"I've no clue what to pack and what to leave behind," Adaline declared, as she threw more robes onto the pile of robes. "I need _help_."

"Clearly," Alice said, wandering further into the room and stepping around a pile of bras. "I mean do you really think you're going to need that many robes?"

"I don't know!" Adaline cried, climbing over the mountain of robes to stand in front of Alice. "I need you and your awesome packing skills."

So the two girls sorted through all of Adaline's things, putting everything in either a yes or a no pile. By the time Mrs Bennett called them down for dinner, they'd sorted through everything on the floor, including the mountain of robes and still had left the chair, the desk and the bed.

"You'll stay for a bit after dinner?"

"At this rate I may as well just sleep over."

"I mean you could," Adaline stared at her hopefully.

"I can't, Emmy took the morning off so we could go for breakfast but I'll stay until you're packed."

With that promise in mind, Alice didn't leave until a quarter to midnight only to receive an earful from her father about travelling alone so late at night and, "There's a curfew for a reason!" Alice's logic that apparating out of Adaline's backyard and to the gates of the Vance house didn't really count as travelling, didn't fly with her dad.

"Next time, if you're going to stay at someone's house this late just owl me and stay the night there. It's just safer."

Alice hugged her dad and agreed even if she didn't actually agree, she'd do it for her dad because she didn't want him to worry about her.

* * *

Ella entered the Ministry the way the letter had told her and her eyes were wide as she took everything in. The atrium was huge with the Fountain of Magical Brethren in the middle and now that she'd seen it first hand, she hadn't a clue how the Marauders had done such a good parody of it. Witches and wizards in dark coloured robes bustled about and Ella lost herself in the crowd, trying to search for a with by the name of Delilah Weatherby.

It was quite hard considering Ella had no idea what this woman looked like but Ella waited by the side of the fountain as she was told to do and eventually a witch came up to her.

"Ella Dearborn?"

"Yes," Ella nodded, "Delilah Weatherby?"

"Yes, come along. We haven't got all day. Crouch is in a meeting until eleven and I've a list of things I need you to do before then."

Weatherby was a pretty witch with thick, dark hair and brown eyes. Her robe was custom tailored for her, Ella could tell by the way they just missed the floor and the pretty cut that still showed the dress and stockings she wore underneath and the unusual clasping, three gold buttons just under her bust that made her robe outline her shape more than ordinary robes would allow.

Her heels clicked against the floor as Ella followed her to security. Ella was assigned an identification card that had a photo of Ella, as well as her name, height and wand specifications and Weatherby told her she must always have it when coming into work. Ella clipped the card to her robes like some other employees had, Weatherby wore hers around her neck on a black lanyard.

"This way," Weatherby dictated, gesturing to the golden lifts. "We're on level two."

The elevator ride was anything but smooth and Ella was rightly glad when the doors opened, the voice announcing " _Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services_."

Weatherby breezed out and Ella followed quickly as they passed a number of doors in a corridor. Weatherby stopped just as they were about to reach huge oak doors that read 'Auror Headquarters' on a brass plate and opened a door that led to a large room that had twenty cubicles. Behind the twenty cubicles were two desks that faced each other with a door in between.

"This is your desk," Weatherby told Ella gesturing to the desk to the right of the door. "You're junior assistant and I'm senior assistant to Mr Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Before anyone speaks or contacts Mr Crouch, they talk to us. All his owls are directed to us and we pass along important ones to him. We both must know his schedule and one of us must accompany him to all public events though until we decide you're not a complete nimwit it will be me. Your job, is to keep these offices running smoothly."

What Weatherby meant by that was Ella Dearborn would be responsible for anything and everything from tea runs to picking up Mr Crouch's dry cleaning from the house elves on the fourth floor to personally delivering memos because the owl got lost the last time. By lunch time, Ella was physically exhausted. She didn't think anyone had run all over one building as much as she'd ran across the Ministry and it was a relief when Ella finally got to sink into her chair behind the desk she didn't really know why she needed.

"Good, you're back," Weatherby said, "I'm going for lunch. I'll be back in an hour. Do not leave your desk." With that, she grabbed her purse and left Ella to man the desks.

* * *

James felt the wind rush through his hair, closing his eyes and stared down the seven other players. The quaffle was under his left arm and he had one goal, to score. He braced his grip before laying flat on his broom, charging at the players, zigzagging around them. The first player, then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the — damn it! James shouted in frustration as the player he'd just flew through withered into dust.

He had recreated the most memorable goal of Quidditch history. Nathaniel Gambers had scored against all seven players of the opposing team who had been strategically flying not five meters apart from each other only ten meters in front of the hoops ensuring that Gambers would collide with one of them but he hadn't. He'd been able to move around every single player at full speed and scored the winning goal. James could get around the first four and then he hit someone.

It just wasn't good enough. He had to be ready for try-outs. He had to be better than the last guy they saw. He had to prove that he deserved to be on that field with those star players. He had to prove that he could be a star player.

A loud crack pooched interest from Quidditch. James turned his head towards it, squinting at what looked like a person with some sort of large contraption. James vanished his floating players and flew down several feet until he could make out that the person was Sirius, though he wasn't totally surprised.

"What the hell are you doing?" James hollared, as Sirius rolled a motorbike into Euphemia's greenhouse and James descended until he was flying next to Sirius.

"I'm going to make it fly," Sirius said, matter of factly as though making muggle objects fly was a common occurrence not to mention legal.

The bike was a huge thing with fat wheels and shiny, black handles. A huge engine behind the front wheel that scared James because he had no idea how such a thing was supposed to work and a shiny, chrome tube stuck out from the engine to the back of the bike.

"Mum's not going to be happy you're using the greenhouse. What if we fly it up onto the terrace? Mum never goes up there."

"It's four hundred pounds!"

"It's called a levitation charm."

"Let me get my broom."

With not much difficulty the two boys floated the motorbike up onto the terrace that connected to the attic and Sirius summoned a bunch of books from his room. James picked one up, a manual for the bike — what all the different knobs and buttons meant.

"Are you gonna help?" Sirius asked.

"I should train." He really shouldn't.

"You've been training all day." Sirius made a good point.

"Do you even know how to make it fly?" He still really shouldn't.

"I've been reading up on the charms used on brooms. It seems simple enough."

"Then you don't need my help." See, he really, really shouldn't.

"Ah, come on, you're better at charms than I am." Sirius could fail and fall and die. James didn't want Sirius to die.

"So call Lily. She's literally in Charms Development." There. Sirius could do this without him.

"I like my balls attached thanks." Who was he kidding? James was in the minute he saw Sirius hauling the stupid thing into the greenhouse. It'd be fun … like the map. James could use a project.

James sniggered. "Fine, fine. I'll help you. You really going to move out after the summer?"

Sirius nodded. "Ella and I are going apartment hunting."

"It'll be weird without you," James noted.

"So move to London with Lils."

"Nah, I think she wants to spend a bit of time with her mum, you know Petunia's gone so it's just the two of them-"

"And Mia Slag."

"You need to stop calling her that," James frowned.

"Marls came up with it."

"You shouldn't encourage it."

"What can I say? I'm an encourager of bad behaviour. Besides, you can't be really happy that she's living with Lily and her mum."

James frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Prongs. You don't really think she broke up with Lemaire do you?"

"That's what she's told Lily. You don't think she has?"

"I think that Lily is her only friend and Lemaire is her boyfriend. What do you do when your only friend doesn't like your boyfriend? You stage a break-up."

"That's diabolical."

"That's life," Sirius corrected. "You know what else is life? Moving out of your parents house."

James sighed. "I know but just, I don't know, not yet. It won't be so bad. I mean, we can apparate and we've got the mirrors. We'll probably still see each other every day."

"The girls might get jealous."

"They work in the same place," James pointed out.

"Damn, maybe I'm jealous." Sirius kicked the bike tyre, "Let's get started, yeah?"

* * *

Marlene's brain hurt and she was only three days into her training. There was so many things to learn and Marlene didn't know how they expected her brain to hold that much information. She already had two readings and a set of twenty questions to complete by the end of the week, along with three new spells to learn.

"Do you regret it then?" Nate asked as they sat on her back verandah eating dinner.

She thought about it for a moment. "Too soon to know for sure," she admitted, "But I don't think so. How's Ollivander?"

"He's a weird dude but brilliant. Sort of like how people say Dumbledore's brilliant but they also say he's as mad as a bag of cats except Ollivander's brilliance starts and ends with wands."

Marlene laughed. "It's weird to think you'll be making wands one day."

"It's weird to think you'll be saving lives one day."

"Oh, there you two are!" Faith walked into the verandah. "Marls, I need your help with the seating chart. It's absolutely driving me mad and my mother will drive me to Avada myself."

"Can't Aria help you?" Nate asked. "We're eating."

"No one asked you," Faith said to Nate before turning pleading eyes on Marlene, "Please."

Marlene sighed as Nate said, "Come on, Faith. She's busy, she's got a lot of work to do for her training."

"No, no, it's okay, I'll be over in thirty."

"Thank Merlin!" Faith breathed, "You're the best and I owe you big time."

"You don't have to do that," Nate frowned.

"I know but it's Faith and she's the closest thing I have to a sister and it's her wedding and it's only a month away."

"Oh, only a month," Nate said sarcastically.

"Boys," she rolled her eyes. "A month is not a lot of time."

"Sure it is. I bet you could plan a whole wedding in a month and she's had a year."

Marlene shook her head. "You've no idea."

"If we ever get married, I think I should be in charge of planning."

"Absolutely not. I've been planning my wedding since I was three, I will not have you ruining it. Faith's wedding will be great. It's been a while since I've been to a big white wedding."

Nate smiled, "It'll be nice when it's finally over."

Marlene hummed in agreement and changed the topic. "Do you know if anyone's heard from Dumbledore?"

Nate shook his head, "You?"

"Haven't heard from anyone. Not even Ella."

"She at her brothers?"

"Yeah. Her and Sirius will start apartment hunting soon though but she wants to wait to move until the end of summer."

"Nathaniel!" Kate McKinnon's voice rung from over the fence. "Nate! Come home! Your father needs help clearing out the garage!"

Nate sighed. "At school it was friends and here it's mothers and sisters."

"Go on, I'll see you later," she promised with a kiss to his lips. She stood collecting their empty plates and leaving Nate on the verandah.

Marlene didn't know if she expected life to be like this after Hogwarts. She couldn't say if her expectations were met or if they were sorely wrong and if they were wrong, she didn't know if it was better or worse. She knew she was content with the feeling like something greater was coming. Maybe it was the wedding coming up or maybe it was just the knowledge that her life was finally going to _start_. Of course, it could have nothing to do with any of that but Marlene remained optimistic in the notion that life would only get better from here.

In some ways, she was so very right but in other ways she was so very wrong.

* * *

It was dazzling walking out onto that pitch for the first time. James would never forget the way the lights lit up every blade of grass just as easily as it lit up all twenty thousand seats in the stands. He wondered what it would be like when all the seats had a person in them, his biggest fantasy could come true, the one he's had since he was old enough to remember what Quidditch was and it could all come true if he played the best he'd ever played in his life.

The A-league team played against the reserve team and James watched, stars in his eyes, as they whizzed around, the quaffle a mere blur in the sky and he was mesmerised. It was phenomenal, what was even more phenomenal was playing with them.

"Lily, it was absolutely brilliant!" James gushed for the tenth time. His head in her lap and her fingers in his hair, he recounted everything — not a detail was left behind and to be sure of it he went over every detail twice. "They're amazing, almost like they're apparating on brooms! And Merlin, Lils, I was flying, Quaffle under my arm, I feinted around Geggins, flew over Mullins and scored right through the middle hoop — the hardest hoop to score in — against Elchar! I scored a goal against Jenny freaking Elchar! Her save rate is ninety-four percent and I scored against her!"

Lily grinned at him, "I wish I could've seen you play. It sounds amazing!"

"It was, Merlin, Lils, it was like fire!"

He'd never had such a high and it had nowhere to go and James knew that nothing in the world could make him feel that high, that buzz. Playing with those players, James knew. He knew there was nothing else he'd rather do and nothing else that would be satisfying. He was meant to be there.

"Imagine how you'll be when you play a real game," Lily smirked.

It terrified James slightly because there was a chance he wouldn't make it. "Don't even say that, you'll jinx it."

Lily bent down to kiss his lips, "No, I won't. You're too talented for something like superstition to matter."

"Seriously, you're gonna jinx it."

Lily frowned, studying him for a minute. "Are you honestly worried about this?"

"I just," he sighed. "I don't know if I have what it takes to play how they play. What if I'm not? What if I'm not as good as I think I am?"

"Hmm, this is serious," she decided. "You never doubt yourself at anything much less Quidditch. You're Hogwarts star player."

"Yeah, but, that's Hogwarts. This is professional Quidditch."

"You do realise this is about Quidditch. Sirius is convinced you've been breathing Quidditch since you were in diapers and you know, your mum has the photographic evidence to prove it. And you think you don't have what it takes. "

James shrugged helplessly, running his hand through his hair only to tangle his fingers in Lily's.

"Well, if you want my two cents that's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard come out of your mouth and I've heard a lot of crap come out of your mouth."

"Hey!"

"Well it is!" Lily argued. "After your accident, you trained every day for weeks until you could play and not only could you play, you played better than you could before. So if anyone has what it takes to play professional Quidditch it's you, James Potter."

"You really think so?"

"I'm usually right, aren't I?"

"Always."

"Then prove me right on this. Your name belongs on a Quidditch jersey, Potter."

* * *

Ella Dearborn had never seen anything quite as hectic as a press release day. She'd had to come into the office at seven a.m a whole two hours early because all the reporters were due in at ten and Ella was in charge of hosting them until Mr Crouch was ready. Ella was also in charge of picking up Mr Crouch's robes from dry cleaning, revising his speech and setting up the room and the feeling of satisfactory she felt when she had everything finished before Weatherby came in at nine was worth it all.

The nature of the press release shocked her though and she said so to Weatherby who stopped in her tracks.

"What's your point?"

"Well, isn't You-Know-Who trying to get the Dementors on his side?"

"Let me make something clear to you," Weatherby said. "It doesn't matter what your opinion is on any of Mr Crouch's policies. He says, you do. That's the job. You don't have to like it but you have to do it."

"But I'm just saying, it doesn't seem smart to put his supporters in the hands of creatures that could and probably will turn on us."

"What did I just say?"

"I know what you just said but-"

"No buts," Weatherby interjected. "Crouch wants to double the dementor guard, the dementor guard is being doubled. It's our job to inform the public and deal with the back lash. What's not our job is inserting our opinions where they don't belong. Clear?"

"Perfectly."

Mr Crouch announced his plan to double the dementor guard at Azkaban at ten and by eleven owls were flooding in. Some were praising Mr Crouch others weren't and some were just downright nasty like the one with a bat-bogey hex in it that Ella only narrowly avoided.

"Don't even bother," Weatherby said, "Just toss them into the fire. Mr Crouch isn't going to change his plans just because some housewife from the midlands thinks it's a terrible idea."

 _Maybe he should_ was the inherent thought that Ella couldn't help but think so Ella didn't throw out the letter but instead stowed them into her bag to read at home. People at least deserved the right to be heard even if they weren't going to be listened to.

Ella swung the door open to Caradoc's apartment an hour later than she usually did and grimaced at her brother who was stirring something over the stove.

"You're late," he observed.

"You're cooking."

"I am. Thought you could use something nice for dinner."

"That sounds suspicious."

Caradoc shrugged. "It may also be a bribe to reconsider your plan to move out at the end of the summer."

Ella laughed. "Oh, Doc."

"Come on, Black's a dick. Would he make you dinner?"

"I guess I'll find out when I go live with him. Now please tell me you've got a bottle of firewhiskey around somewhere because I am in desperate need."

"Cupboard over the fridge," he directed. "Pour us a glass and tell me about your day."

So she did.

* * *

"I feel like us gingers have to stick together," Gideon Prewett joked with Lily.

"Too bad we're on separate groups."

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"Isn't that against the rules?" Lily raised her eyebrow.

"I trust you," Gideon shrugged.

"Nice try," Lily laughed, "But you just met me."

"You have a trustworthy face," he tried and Lily laughed again.

"You just want to know what we're up to."

"You caught me," he sighed, "I'm a charms whore. I want to know all the new cool stuff."

Gideon, despite the oddly familiar name and face, had quickly become one of Lily's closet friends within the department and on the days that Lily didn't lunch with Ella or Alice, she lunched with Gideon. He was one of the younger ones in the department and he always had wicked stories about his sister and nephews. They often milled around at the beginning of the day together, each with a cup of tea as they waited for the rest of their teams to show up.

"You can go right ahead and ask Lovegood then."

"She's off with the fairies that one. Believing in the likes of nargles."

Lily smiled. "She's brilliant with charms though."

"Brilliant people always seem to have a bit of mad in them. I think you'll be brilliant one day."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Are you calling me mad?"

"Just a bit."

"Oh, well if it's only a bit," Lily conceded as Lovegood walked into the room. Lily slipped off her chair. "I'll catch you at the Tea Party."

"There's a party?" he asked.

"Muggle reference. Alice in Wonderland. You should read it. It's just a bit mad."

"Well, now I'll have to," he promised.

Lily walked on over to her bench where Lovegood was already pulling out her notes.

"Hello, Lily."

"Good morning," Lily greeted.

"We've finally got a full team today so I'm hoping we can make a little more progress," Lovegood commented and Lily's eyes fell on the unfamiliar member, only for her to freeze and for her brain to go into overdrive.

* * *

James and Sirius were on the attic terrace with the bike. They'd made progress, the thing now levitated when turned on but they had yet to make it fly forwards.

"Okay, me and Lily hanging off a cliff, who do you save?"

James thought about it for a moment and then without hesitating, "Lily."

Sirius looked at him, affronted. "I thought we were friends — no, brothers!"

James raised an eyebrow, "Come on, are you telling me that if it was out of me and Ella you'd pick me?"

"Bloody oath I would!"

James waved him off. "You haven't reached the 'I love you' stage yet. You'll be eating your words soon enough."

"Okay you love Lily. So what you love me too."

"Yeah but it's different."

"Different how?"

"You're my brother, Sirius, and I'd die for you. I honestly would but Lily, I couldn't live without Lily."

"So what if she dies first?"

James shivered at the thought. "That's not going to happen."

"Okay but what if it does?"

"It's not," James said stubbornly. "You'd seriously save me over Ella?"

Sirius shrugged. "You've always been there for me. Gave me a second chance." Sirius looked over James' shoulder and grinned, "Hey, Mrs P!"

James froze for a second before turning around to see his mother standing at the doors to the terrace with her hands on her hips.

"And what in Godric's name are you two doing?"

"It's all Sirius' idea," James said with no hesitation, then, "Why are you up here?"

"You have a visitor," Euphemia announced. "And this better not be anything illegal happening under my roof."

"A visitor?" James asked.

"Technically, it's on your roof," Sirius pointed out and Euphemia shook her head hopelessly before answering James' question.

"No, it's Vincent Hellcot."

James dropped the wrench he was holding and straightened. "Seriously?"

"Yes, dear."

James started fidgeting, smoothing down his grease stained shirt and pulling the dirty rag out of his pocket. Vincent Hellcot. Coach to the Puddlemere United Quidditch team was in his house.

"I've set up tea in the living room. You should probably change," Euphemia suggested.

James followed his mother's advice, slipping into a nice pair of navy robes before making his way down to the living room where sure enough Vincent Hellcot was waiting. This was it. James had either made it or he hadn't and the anticipation would surely kill him so he stepped in, making his presence known.

"Good afternoon, Mr Hellcot."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ Hello everyone! Thank you for reading and remember reviews are better than bees (a tall order considering bees are my favourite thing at the moment).

-Natalie xx


	29. Chapter 28: 7 Wurriah Lane

Lily's brain was tripping. It had to be because she was staring into the face of Dominique Mulciber except it wasn't Dominique. The hair was longer and the eyes were a little rounder, lips a little thinner than Dominique. She was left with the vague impression of a tall boy sneering at her when she was in her second year and it clicked. Francis Mulciber, Dominique's older brother. It had to be.

"Lily Evans, is it?" he asked her and Lily couldn't say or do anything. How was she supposed to respond to this man? This man who she was ninety-eight percent sure was a Death Eater and if he wasn't, his brother surely was on his way to becoming one.

"I — yes, I'm Lily Evans."

"Francis Mulciber," he introduced. "I hear you're a recruit straight out of Hogwarts graduating class. I suppose you'd know my brother Dominique then."

She didn't contradict him. She did know his brother, loathed him even. Wracking her brains for something to say, something to get the memory of that face suggesting she be his whore out of her mind, she spat out, "How long have you been on the project for?"

"Almost a month now though I did take two weeks off for some travelling. Dom and I always said we'd go for a vacation after he finished school. He spent two weeks in Peru. Amazing curses the Aztecs concocted. If you ever feel the travel bug itch, Peru is the place to go."

Lily nodded, trying to reconcile this man with his brother. He seemed so normal, not at all what you'd imagine of a Death Eater and the polar opposite of his cruel, crass brother. He was giving her travel advice, for Merlin's sake.

"That sounds nice," Lily said lamely and sighed in relief when one of the other men on the project asked Lily to assist them with something.

The entire day passed and Lily was on edge until the clock hit five and she was free. She dashed out barely hollering a bye to Gideon before she was jumping into an elevator and apparating home the minute she was in a hidden alley way.

"Yesh, it freaks me out when you do that," Mia exclaimed, clutching her heart.

Mia was laying on a sun chair by their small pool in nothing but a bikini and a large hat. Lily was oddly reminded of Petunia doing the exact same thing during the summers Lily spent here, except Petunia wouldn't open her eyes or pay the slightest bit of attention when Lily attempted to join her.

"Is mum here?"

"Out with a friend. James is waiting for you by the way, in your bedroom." Mia wagged her eyebrows at that.

 _James_. Brilliant! "Thanks Mia!" Lily shouted before twisting on the spot and into her bedroom. James jumped from the surprise as she wasn't usually in the habit of apparating inside of rooms.

"Merlin, James, I've just had the most weirdest day," Lily sighed, dumping her bag on her desk before stripping off her robes until she was left in nothing but her underwear. James watched appreciatively and she pulled on one of James' old Quidditch jersey's that she'd stolen and curled up next to him on her bed. "Fucking Mulciber's older brother works in Charms Development, oh and not just in the same bloody department — in my project group!"

"Mulciber's brother," James frowned, "Wait — you mean, Francis Mulciber?"

"Yes!"

"He's a twat. Did he speak to you?"

" _Yes_! Had the gal to ask if I knew Dominique."

" _Twat_!" James exclaimed and then, "Did you tell him I broke the git's nose?"

"James," Lily said unimpressed.

"Well, I did!"

She laughed, shaking her head as she fell into her pillows and placed her feet on his outstretched legs. "He's so different from him though," she murmured. "He didn't seem like a Death Eater."

"Well, Alex Brown didn't seem like a murderous psychopath and yet."

Lily shivered. James had a point just because Francis seemed nice didn't mean he was actually nice and just because he didn't seem like a Death Eater definitely didn't mean he wasn't a Death Eater.

James ran a hand up her calf, squeezing her knee gently, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up Brown."

"No, no, it's okay," Lily assured. "You're right."

A thought occurred to her. "Wait, why were you waiting for me in my room? Did we have plans to go out? Oh, lord, I'm the worse bloody girlfriend. Hold on, give me ten minutes to shower and change and-"

James clamped a hand over her mouth. "We didn't have plans."

"Oh," she said, confused, "Then why are you here?"

"I made it," he grinned softly. "You're looking at Puddlemere United's newest reserve chaser."

A smile crept onto her face, "Oh my god!" she squealed happily, moving into his lap so she was straddling him and her hands cupped his face. "I knew it! I knew you could do it!" she kissed him square on the mouth and his arms wrapped around her waist snuggly, pulling her closer somehow.

"We'll have to update your jersey," he grinned into her kisses and she laughed.

"You'll pry this jersey out of my cold, dead hands, Potter," she warned him.

"I don't see your obsession with the thing," he sighed. "It's old and the sleeve is ripped."

"Cold, dead hands, Potter," Lily held her ground. Truth was it smelt of him and no new jersey could hold a candle to that. "Now we simply have to go out to celebrate!" Lily declared. "We'll go into the city! Give me half an hour."

"Before you said ten minutes!" he accused.

"That's before I decided we were going to do something fancy." She hopped out of his lap and opened her wardrobe, pulling out her leather skirt and James' leather jacket. James eyed it.

"You said you'd packed that in my trunk."

She looked at the jacket and then at James. "It likes me more."

He snorted and she continued to insist as she crossed the hall to use the bathroom. Thirty minutes later she strode out, her hair dry, make-up done but not over done, and dressed. James wolf-whistled at her.

"Sexy and on time," he complimented.

"What can I say? I'm an overachiever."

After telling Mia that they'd be in London, they apparated out of her backyard and something fancy turned into bar hopping before they ended up at a wizarding bar called Golden Mermaid where they met with their friends. They didn't leave until the bar closed and none of them could walk straight.

* * *

"I just don't understand why you would want to work for such an idiotic man," Sirius sighed for the tenth time.

Ella sighed for the twentieth. "It's a job, Sirius. Something I want to be good at — to move up in the Ministry."

"So why not be an auror? And actually do something."

"It's not like I sit around twiddling my thumbs at work, Sirius." He acted like she sat around and did nothing all day and it hurt. It hurt that he didn't see what she was doing and why it was important. She didn't get why he couldn't just be supportive of the career she wanted in the Ministry and fine Crouch was lazy and it'd be years before she'd get a promotion, but it was the same in any Ministry office or department. They don't just hand promotions out like candy, you had to earn them and prove that you were in it for the long haul. Ella planned to do exactly that if only Sirius could stop nagging her about it.

"No, you're fetching Crouch's coffees and dry cleaning not to mention taking the heat for his blatant refusal to see the truth."

"Why can't you just be supportive?" she argued. "You don't see me complaining that you don't even have a job!"

"I believe I just heard one," he said sourly.

Ella groaned, stalking forwards, Sirius sagging behind before she whirled around, "Can we just go to this bloody meeting and pretend that we're not arguing?"

"Oh — of course, why should everyone know that we're a fucking mess," Sirius grumbled, shoving his hand in his pocket and pulling out a cigarette. With a mere thought, the cigarette lit itself and he slipped it between his lips, taking a deep breath before exhaling.

"You know that shit kills muggles," Ella said, hands on her hips.

"Believe me, baby, I'm not going to live long enough for smoking to get me."

She whirled around and kept walking. "Don't talk like that!"

"Like what? Like me?"

"Like you're going to fucking die, Sirius!"

"It's not like it isn't a possibility. We're in a war."

"Doesn't mean you get to be so cavalier about it, _baby_."

He brought the fag to his lips again, inhaling and blowing the smoke in her face only for her to huff and throw her hands in the air as he laughed.

"Why're you being so uptight tonight?" he asked her.

"I'm being uptight?" she questioned unbelievingly before whacking him over the head and pulling the stupid cigarette out of his mouth and throwing it on the floor, stepping on it. "Talking about dying isn't cool and wanting a career isn't unusual, Sirius! Is it too much to ask for a bit of fucking support?"

"I'm not going to support you being a monkey for Barty fucking Crouch."

Ella shook her head. "Let's just go all right. I'm done talking about this." They'd been going in circles after all and if they kept going they'd leave a rather embarrassing impression on the Order, also, they'd be late. Very late.

"Fine, just _decide_ ," Sirius scowled, pulling out another cigarette.

"If you even think about lighting that fucking cigarette I'll fucking set you on fire!" she warned.

Sirius looked at her, cigarette between his lips and smirked when he did his party trick and the cigarette lit up without him uttering a word or waving his wand.

"I fucking hate you," she muttered, storming off.

* * *

"I know Frank but I just can't take that much time off of training unless you want to wait to have the wedding next summer when I get a month off during holidays."

"If I wanted to get married to you next year, I would've proposed next year."

"Then a one week honeymoon in France or Italy is all I can give you. I'm in the fast tracked program, Frank. I can't afford to take time off."

"Fine, fine. We'll go to Italy. France just reminds me of all the summer vacations mum used to take me on."

"Oh, you poor thing. Vacations in France! What a travesty," she teased and he nudged her. She checked her watch and jumped up. "I gotta go."

"Where're you off to?"

"Meeting up with the girls," she lied, well half-lied. The girls would be there but so would a bunch of other people and Albus Dumbledore.

"Where you all off to?"

Alice shrugged. "We're meeting at Lily's and deciding there."

He kissed her softly. "Don't travel on your own after dark, yeah?"

"Yes, yes, I know." She kissed him again before sliding off his bed. "Tell your mum February tenth."

"Seriously?" Frank raised an eyebrow, Alice had been changing her mind about the date for the last two weeks.

"Frank, we've officially set a date," she announced, with a wicked smile and a wink. "Don't be late."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he assured her with a grin of his own. "I'll let mum know."

She leaned down to kiss him once more. "All right, I've really got to go now. I'll see you later."

"Be safe," he told her. "I love you."

"Me too," she replied before leaving his room and letting herself out, apparating off his front step and into an alleyway Emmeline had told her about.

"You're late," Emmeline huffed.

"Frank and I set a date," Alice smiled. "February tenth."

"Oh, that's wonderful … Mrs Longbottom is going to drive us nutters though," Emmeline sighed. "Come on, the twins have already gone in."

Headquarters turned out to be a townhouse in London. Alice got the impression that no one else could see it and she'd be right. No one noticed the pretty brick townhouse that was bigger than it seemed. From the exterior you'd believe it was a normal two story townhouse with three, maybe four bedrooms, a drawing room and a dining room, a kitchen and maybe a basement or cellar of some sort.

Alice walked into a long corridor that had a large archway leading to a drawing room where photo frames of a young boy sat on the fireplace. Directly opposite this archway was another that led into a dining room, narrower than the drawing room and with a gorgeous mahogany table that seated twelve. In the middle was a silver bowl encrusted with rubies, no doubt goblin made and it occurred to Alice that this was someone's house.

It had to be, the wallpaper matched the rugs that ran across the hardwood floors and the throw cushions on the couch were just a bit too feminine. Not to mention the pictures of the boy on the fireplace mantel.

Emmeline led Alice down the corridor ignoring a few closed doors and into a stairwell. Alice looked up incredulously, grand wooden stairs with a red persian rug ran up the four walls and she could count three landings above her head. There was a flight of stairs leading down and Emmeline gestured for Alice to follow her down.

They pattered down the two flights of stairs and Alice's eyes widened as she saw a kitchen so large she wasn't sure she hadn't just stepped into Hogwarts. A huge wooden bench ran across the middle of the room where multiple people sat, some Alice recognised like the Prewett twins and Caradoc Dearborn and others she didn't. Along the walls ran cabinets and bench space.

Emmeline led Alice to sit with Emmeline's fiance and friends and Alice looked around.

"This place is ginormous," she said in awe.

"We have Mr Potter to thank for this. He doesn't have an active role in the Order, but he finances us and lets us use this house as Headquarters," Emmeline explained.

"Mr Potter," Alice said dazed, "As in James' dad?"

"That'd be the one," Emmeline confirmed. "I believe they lived here many years ago before they moved to their country estate."

Alice looked around, she was the first of her friends to arrive and she wondered if James knew his dad was financing the Order, wondered if he knew that his house was Headquarters.

* * *

James and Lily strolled up to the street, hands swinging between them. James had recognised the address immediately, of course, it was his childhood home for the first five or six years of his life. When it came into sight he smiled fondly at the townhouse. He hadn't been back in ages and a lot came rushing back to him. How he'd jump off the highest landing with his broom and dive right down to the kitchen only pulling up at the last second. How his mum would transfigure the stairs into a slide for him to play. How he'd hide in the pantry when he broke something he shouldn't have.

"You grew up here? It looks huge," Lily whispered.

"Bigger on the inside," James told her. "You'll see."

And she did. Her eyes wandered over the two large rooms and her she held her head back looking up the well of stairs in amazement. James quickly explained that they couldn't make the floors larger because of the muggle townhouses on either side, so they extended up with an undetectable extension charm.

"That's amazing," Lily said incredulously, taking in the tall ceilings and the elaborate, crystal chandeliers.

"Dumbledore said the kitchen, right?"

Lily nodded and James dragged her with him down the stairs, her eyes wandering over the portraits that lined the walls. Her eyes widened at the kitchen that seemed to use the entire floor space of the basement. She spotted Alice, Emmeline and Gideon Prewett — well, two Gideon's — sitting at the table and Lily nudged James.

"He's in my department too. Different project," she shook her head. "I knew he looked familiar."

"Gideon's in Charms Development?" James asked.

"Interning like me."

"Odd."

"Isn't it?" Lily murmured. The chances that a Death Eater and a member of the Order were in Charms Development at the same time couldn't be a coincidence.

"Oh, can't you ever just drop something!" Ella groaned. "Why do we always have to go on and on and on?"

James raised his eyebrow at Lily who rolled her eyes.

"You're the one who nags all the time. Hey, Prongs," Sirius greeted. "Lily."

"Sirius," Lily replied. "Hey, Ella."

"Hey."

"Let's go sit, yeah?" James suggested but Sirius stopped him.

"Did you tell your old man we've joined?"

"No, why?"

"Because he's coming right for us and he doesn't look pleased."

James and Lily both turned to see Fleamont strolling over.

"How in Merlin's beard did you get in here?" he asked them.

"Dad, we joined." James decided ripping the band-aid off would be better than beating around the dragon.

"You joined?" Fleamont went pale. "Why? Why would you do that!"

"Why'd you give Dumbledore our house?" James asked. He didn't know why his dad looked so worried.

"We aren't talking about me. You should tell Dumbledore that you've changed your mind. All of you." Fleamont eyed the four of them who believed the world could change and wanted to be apart of it. He sighed, "But that's not going to happen, is it?" He couldn't ask of them not to do what he himself wanted to do. If he'd been their age — hell if he'd been twenty years younger — he'd have joined in a heartbeat alas, he was an old man and he didn't need his wife to tell him that he'd be lazy in a duel.

"Sorry, dad," James said.

"Just," Fleamont ran a hand through his hair, "Just be safe, okay? Watch out for each other and for Merlin's sake don't tell your mother that you've joined. She thinks it's dangerous enough that we're funding them and letting them use the house. She'll lose her head if she finds out any of you have joined."

James nodded in agreement. He hadn't planned to tell his mother in any case and perhaps now that his dad knew, it'd be easier to dodge questions about his whereabouts.

Lily squeezed his hand and they walked passed his dad taking a seat with Alice. Alice eyed Ella.

"Do we want to know what the two of you were arguing about?"

Ella rolled her eyes. "It's just _Sirius_."

Alice patted her hand sympathetically. "It can get like that sometimes. Anyone know if Marly's coming?"

"I am right here," Marlene declared, taking a seat next to Lily. Lily awkwardly side hugged her as Nate settled in with James, Sirius and Victor King, the only other boy from Nate's dormitory to join the Order.

"God, it feels like I haven't seen you in _ages_. At least I see them two at the Ministry," Lily complained.

Marlene smiled. "I know what you mean. Has anyone heard from Della?"

"She owled me," Alice said. "Told me she was having a great time in the States with her brother. His wife is expecting soon so they've been dragging her to all the baby shops and she's helping them with the nursery."

The girls chatted happily, catching up on all the things they hadn't been able to tell each other in the last few weeks. Lily, Alice and Marlene gushed over how relieved they were when their NEWT results came in and Ella expressed at her annoyance about Sirius' continuous bragging about his results. She was in the middle of mocking him when they were interrupted.

"Lily?" Gideon leaned over the table, looking over his brother, Emmeline, Alice and Ella. "Is that you?"

Lily smiled. "Hey, fancy seeing you here."

"You're in the Order?"

"Joined with some friends."

"Has Dumbledore asked you to join our mission then?"

"Er, mission?"

"Yeah, at the Ministry — Charms Development. You know, to track Mulciber."

She knew it. "Dumbledore hasn't mentioned a thing."

She could feel James watching their encounter, even as he greeted Remus and Peter.

"Oh, so how'd you end up in Charms?"

"I applied. I'm very good at Charms."

Gideon snorted. "That makes one of us. Look, Lily, I must say this turned out rather convenient."

"Convenient?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, because now we can swap groups so I can carry out my mission better."

"I don't think it works like that," Lily said but Gideon was already hollering down the table.

"Oi, Meadowes!"

Lily's eyes searched for the person who responded and her jaw dropped. Dorcas Meadowes sat further up with some people Lily hardly knew.

"Lily, the intern in Lovegood's project, has agreed to swap with me! She's in the Order!"

"I —" Lily tried to interrupt but Dorcas responded before she could get a word in.

"Only if Lovegood approves! You might be a sham, Prewett, but my department and it's projects aren't."

"Brilliant!" Gideon grinned at Lily.

James stepped on Lily's foot gently and she stared at him for a second before responding with a fake smile, "Yeah, brill." Of course, none of it was 'brill' but what was she supposed to say? No? _Sorry, I know you joined the department to spy on this guy and it's your mission but I like the project I'm on?_ This was something more important than her career, wasn't it? This was about the greater good, of course it was more important than her career.

James stared at her with pursed lips and she shrugged. She was saved from actually saying anything when Professor Dumbledore walked in. He stood at the head of the table as everyone quietened down so he could address them.

"Good evening everyone. I hope you've had a lovely day and I'll try not to take up too much of your time. We've got a few handfuls of new recruits joining us today, I'm sure you'll all give them a warm welcome. Now, onto more serious business. Our spies have informed me that Voldemort is after a object in Hogwarts, our objective is to ensure he doesn't get it so patrols will re-continue at Hogwarts. I'd like Misters Potter, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew to join the patrol team at Hogwarts. I'm told they have excellent knowledge of the school." His eyes twinkled in their direction and the boys glanced at each other nervously not quite sure what Dumbledore was alluding to.

"Now, the muggle Prime Minister is unprotected since the Ministry doesn't want to waste resources. Is there anyone who would be willing to take up a day job as the Prime Minister's body guard? I'll sort out the finer details and as you'll be registered as an employee you will be paid a muggle sum. I need at minimum two people to do this."

Two witches, Abigail and Valerie Fawcett, volunteered and the meeting rather went on in that fashion. None of the girls left with a mission except Alice who was asked to keep an eye on a man in the Auror Office they suspected to be under the Imperius Curse. The group quickly realised that they'd be stuck with a lot of reconnaissance missions before they were trusted for something more serious.

They left Headquarters forty minutes later and the group from Hogwarts decided to head out of drinks to mark the beginning of an era of sorts.

* * *

Mia was surprised when an owl arrived, Lily didn't usually receive owls and she was even more surprised to have the letter addressed to her. She hoped, perhaps foolishly, that it would be her brother or her parents asking her to come home. Mia would go. Without thought she'd go back to the family who'd shunned her in their pain because whilst Lily and Rosie were lovely, this wasn't her home.

She slipped her finger under the fold of the envelope, pulling it open and pulling the letter out. She paused at the familiar writing. Not her brother's or her mother's but Gabriel's. She let her fingers hover over the letter, tracing his words and wondering why he was writing her, not knowing what she wanted the letter to say but more, not knowing what to expect.

 _Dear Mia,_

 _I've missed you and I know I'm the one who ended things so maybe I don't have the right, but I do. I've also been very worried about you. I know you're parents had kicked you out and I know you were hoping they'd come around but I went by your place and your brother, well, he wasn't pleased to see me. I just want to make sure you're okay. I know you're not staying with any of the girls from your dorm because, well, because of me so I just need to know that you're staying somewhere safe._

 _Gabriel_

The letter was short, maybe too short for Mia's taste but the proof was there, he still cared and it warmed her heart even though it shouldn't. She didn't waste any time writing her reply.

* * *

Lily stood in front of her mother nervously.

"Okay, so it's real simple mum. You step into the fireplace, and throw down the powder and say 'Seaside Estate, Drawing Room'."

"And I'll end up in the Potter's drawing room?" Rosie said doubtfully.

"Yes," Lily confirmed. "Just make sure to speak very clearly."

"And elbows in," Mia advised. She was lounging on the couch, still in her pyjamas.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us, Mia?" her mum asked for the tenth time that morning.

"Positive," Mia replied. "I'm perfectly happy to skip a lunch with Sirius Black and have the house to myself."

Euphemia had called in a favour at the Ministry to get the Evans' house connected to the Floo Network, which Lily had to admit made seeing James much easier because whenever she had wanted to go to his house, she'd have to apparate into the town and then walk up.

"Go on, take a handful," Lily urged, holding open the pretty urn Euphemia had given to them with the floo powder inside.

Rosie took a handful and yelped when the fireplace expanded so it was large enough to fit a person.

"Lily, I must say this seems rather ridiculous," Rosie muttered as she stepped into the fireplace.

"Drop it and don't worry about the flames they don't burn and speak clearly."

Rosie nodded and then shutting her eyes, dropped the powder and said, "Seaside Estate, Drawing Room!"

Rosie vanished in the burst of green flames and Lily glanced at Mia who grinned, "You better go see if she made it."

"Oh, Merlin," Lily muttered. She grabbed her own handful and quickly stepped into the fireplace, repeating the words Rosie had said and ended up in the Potter's Drawing Room where Euphemia was charming the dust off of Rosie's clothes.

"Ah, Evans," Sirius rounded on her first. "You're mum's face was priceless."

"I'd like to see your face the first time you go on an aeroplane," Lily fired back before heading to her mum to make sure she was all right.

"It's an unpleasant feeling," Rosie admitted, "But I'm fine."

"How is Mrs Evans taking her tea?" Twinkle asked and Rosie gasped.

"Mum, this is a house elf," Lily explained. "They work for the Potters."

"Oh, well, I never … they're adorable in an ugly way," Rosie considered the house elf, "Like pugs."

Lily snorted, "Don't let Marge hear you say that."

"Lily, why don't you pry James and the other two down from the attic," Mia suggested, "And Twinkle will set us up with some tea on the terrace."

"Remus and Peter are here?" Lily asked.

"Yes, they've gate crashed or James invited them without telling me, you know, I really can't tell anymore," Euphemia sighed.

"Come with me, Sirius?" Lily said and he didn't need telling twice.

Lily left her mum with Mia and Sirius whispered in her ear, "I invited them."

"Why?"

"I needed them."

" _Why_?" Lily repeated.

"Marauder worthy project. You have to promise not to yell at us when you see it."

Lily sighed. Sirius coming up with some sort of project was bound to happen because for some reason, boredom inspired brilliance in him. "I promise not to yell but if it's stupid I get to call you stupid and you really should get a job."

"Nah, I'd rather see where the next project takes me."

Lily shook her head as they reached the first landing turning right for James' room. She shook her head at the messy state of James' bedroom, clothes piled on a chair, bed unmade and shoes scattered about before her and Sirius started the climb up the spiral stairs to the attic.

"Moony! Don't cut," a small explosion sounded followed by James' sigh, "the fuel line."

"What are you lot doing up here?" Lily questioned as she reached the top step of the attic stairs.

Remus and Peter were on either side of a motorbike whilst James was reading out instructions from a book titled, _How to Make Things Fly_ by Gerald Geranium.

"Welcome to the Marauder worthy project," Sirius clapped her on the back. "How's it going?" he asked the others, going over to examine the damaged area of the bike, no doubt where the small explosion had occurred.

"It'd be going better if Moony didn't just cut the fuel line," Peter grumbled as he set on repairing said fuel line.

"Hey, Lils, your mum here?"

Lily went over to kiss him and plucked the book off him, "Mmmhmm," she agreed about her mum as she started flicking through the book. "You want the bike to fly?"

"That is the plan," James agreed.

Lily shook her head and kissed him once more. "Come on, let's go down. Twinkle's preparing some tea before lunch." The boys started cleaning up and Lily plonked into the couch as she waited. "Is it any use telling you lot that charming a muggle artefact is illegal?"

"Nope," James and Sirius replied at the same time.

"You could try," Remus shrugged.

Lily nodded. "Let me guess, not a word of this to Mia?"

"You would be correct," Peter nodded in affirmation.

Tea turned out to be all right. Rosie found all the boys charming, much to Lily's relief who'd been maybe slightly worried her mum would take a Petunia-stance on the cheeky boys. Lily was glad Remus had come because he kept Sirius from saying anything too inappropriate and instead focused the conversation on the shenanigans they used to get up to at school.

Fleamont joined them for lunch on the terrace and it passed by nice enough. Conversation flowed from how the Potter's ended up with Seaside Estate to Fleamont giving Rosie samples of different wizarding liquors to Sirius telling everyone embarrassing stories about James — most of which included Lily. Eventually they ended up on everyone's work.

"You must be proud that Lily got offered not only one but two internships at the Ministry," Fleamont said to Rosie.

"To be honest, I've no clue about Potions and Charms but yes, I'm very proud of Lily," Rosie smiled warmly at her daughter, patting her hand.

"It's well deserved," Monty continued, "The Head of Potions Development is an acquaintance and he raved about Lily's application. Quite disappointed that you chose the Charms Department, Lily."

Lily smiled, "He said so. Invited me to go around the Potions lab one day but with the current project I'm on, I haven't found the time. Actually, he invited both of us, Monty. He said there was a potion he wanted to show you."

"Bodine is always wanting to show me something," Fleamont rolled his eyes. "Always trying to get me to get my hands on something."

"James, I heard you got onto the Quidditch team," Rosie smiled and then to Lily, more quietly, "Did I say it right?"

"Yeah," Lily replied quietly.

"Yep," James grinned. "Only on the reserve team though."

"It's a perfectly good start," Euphemia said.

"What about you boys?" Rosie asked Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"He works in a shop in Diagon Alley," Sirius said gesturing to Peter, "Remus and I are unemployed."

"Not for a lack of trying," Remus added.

Sirius snorted, "Speak for yourself."

Euphemia pursed her lips. "Sirius, you're going to start attending M.A.E meetings. I'm sick of seeing you mope around all day waiting for that one to get home from training. You're welcome to attend to Remus. It's a good way to make contacts."

"What's May?" Rosie asked.

"It's a society, mum. Magic Against Evil," Lily explained. "They lobby the Ministry when they want to pass unfair laws. Mia co-founded it."

"A friend of mine, Caroline Shacklebolt, and I started it when all this You-Know-Who nonsense started," Mia said and Lily kicked James across the table, with wide eyes. James looked at her and she shook her head.

"Ah, mum, let's not get into this, yeah? It's dead boring and I'm sure Rosie would love a tour of the house."

"Oh, well yes, I would like to see it. This is the first magical home I've seen."

* * *

Mia seized her chance the moment they had disappeared in the fireplace. She ran up to her room and changed into a top and a skirt, slid on some shoes and left the house clutching Gabriel's reply in her hand. The owl had arrived in the middle of the night, tapping on Mia's window relentlessly until she'd opened. The letter didn't say much of anything but he agreed. He agreed to meet her at the house so she found herself nervously pacing in the living room.

Almost an hour passed before she heard the knock on the door, she jumped up to answer, smoothing her top down as she went up. She swung the door open and there he stood.

"You didn't tell me Severus lives here too." He walked in despite her not having said a word.

"I didn't know," Mia replied. "It's good to see you."

He paused now, turning to look at her. She didn't miss the sly smile on his face despite the cold tone of his words. "I just wanted to see that you were all right and you are."

"I am," Mia agreed. "How have you been?"

"Fine."

Mia nodded. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No," he said. "I should go."

"You just got here." She could feel her stomach sink in her gut.

"I'm not here to start things again," he said quietly.

"No, you just wanted to make sure that I was all right," the words came out almost bitterly.

"Yes," he agreed.

"Right."

"I'm going to go," he declared and just as he had invited himself in, he invited himself out but Mia grabbed his arm this time.

"Please," she whispered looking into his eyes desperately. She didn't even know what she was asking him for. To stay longer? To have things be the way they were before? For him to look at her like he used to? That one tiny word held a lot of questions.

He softened for a moment and then shook out of her grip. "I'm doing this for you." Then he left, the door clicking shut behind him.

* * *

Lily was perplexed when Dorcas Meadowes requested to see her and Gideon in her office in the morning. She couldn't have run this passed Lovegood that quickly, could she?

She sat behind her desk, her black hair in a tight curled afro that Lily thought made her at least three inches taller. Dorcas scribbled something down on a piece of parchment and Lily was momentarily mesmerised by the look of her gold wedding band against her darker skin tone, like coffee. Maybe it was an odd thing to get distracted by — Lily knew it was — but she'd never seen such a simple piece of jewellery stand out so much before.

Dorcas looked up at the two of them, her blue eyes piercing them. "I've reviewed Lovegood's notes on why she chose you to be her intern out of the five and, Gid, I can't overturn her decision. She specifically requested Lily. She was why Lily got the internship in the first place."

"She was?" Lily asked.

Dorcas smiled at her kindly, her eyes softening from a sharp pierce to a soft-glowing pride. "You've got a very good aptitude for Charms and Potions and that was something Lovegood was looking for. An aptitude, you," she looked at Gideon, the sharpness coming back into her eyes, "Do not have."

"You're the Department Head," Gideon argued. "Just overrule her."

"I told you already I would not risk the success rate of the projects being run."

"How am I supposed to spy on Mulciber if we aren't even in the same group?"

"I can do it," Lily volunteered and they both looked at her like she was crazy. "What? I'm in the Order just as much as you two. Dumbledore hasn't assigned me a mission but, considering the circumstances, I think he'd allow me to join yours."

Meadowes studied Lily for a moment and then, "Very well. I'll owl Dumbledore. Lily, you'll officially report to Gideon at the end of each week. No Order business is to be discussed within the Ministry under any circumstances, understood?"

"Yes," Lily nodded.

"Wonderful. Go on back to the labs," Meadowes dismissed Lily and Lily left the room but she hovered at the door.

"This was supposed to be my mission," Gideon protested to Meadowes.

"It's still your mission, you just have a partner, now."

"Yes, a doe-eyed Hogwarts graduate. She doesn't know the first thing about anything to do with the Order."

"Neither did you when you first joined," Meadowes pointed out and Lily decided she liked her. "You better get back to the lab too before I get another report on what a useless intern you are."

Lily scarpered down the hallway to avoid being caught and as she approached the table, she swore she'd figure out what Mulciber wanted with Lovegood's project no matter what. Even if it meant forming a friendship with a suspected Death Eater.

* * *

James watched as Sirius sat on the bike, straddling it and stroking the handle bar. Night had fallen about an hour ago but they were still at it because Sirius wouldn't let it up and James didn't have anything better to do.

Sirius turned the ignition on and James pulled his wand out because the last thing he needed was Sirius careening off the roof. Sirius looked back at James and they nodded at each other before Sirius revved, the rumble of the engine sounded how it was supposed to — a good sign — and then he released the breaks and after driving across the roof, the bike lifted off the ground as easily as a broomstick and Sirius whooped.

The wind rushed through his hair and he tested the handlebar and steering, turning the bike to the right, looping around the house before turning left and doing a loop around then. He also tested altitude and flattened himself against the handlebars and pulling up to go higher. He reached three hundred meters over the house before slowly guiding the bike back down by pushing down on the bike. He came to a skidded stop on the terrace in front of James.

"Well?" James asked, a grin on his face.

"Improvements can be made but she's, for the most part, ready."

"Let's give her a spin then!"

James hopped onto the back of the bike, holding onto Sirius' jacket just in time before Sirius sped off and up into the air.

"Where to then?"

James grinned. "Let's see how she handles long distance yeah? Let's go to London!"

* * *

"Can I please come on your mission?" Alice begged Emmeline.

"Ally," Emmeline sighed. "It's not your mission. I'm not going to put you in unnecessary danger."

"You're on a recon mission! You're literally sitting outside of someone's house for a few hours."

"It's not just _someone's_ house, Al. It's Bellatrix Lestrange's London house. You haven't seen the side of her that I have. She's crazy."

"More reason why you shouldn't go alone!" Alice fought. "Please, Emmy. You're always saying how I'm not experienced, well wouldn't you prefer I do this type of stuff with you first?"

Emmeline looked at her sister and sighed. "Fine. Fine! You can come but I'm not messing around Alice. You listen to every order I give you even if I tell you to leave."

"Done!" Alice grinned.

"First order is to change. Dark clothes, something that wouldn't look too suss in a muggle crowd. Go."

Alice ran up the stairs to her bedroom and pulled on dark denim jeans and a navy poncho that Lily had gotten her for her birthday one year. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and deduced she'd pass as a muggle.

As they made their way to London with muggle transport, Emmeline went over the rules and every rule was followed by "Not that I expect this to happen tonight because it's just recon but if it _does_."

"We'll be fine, right?" Alice asked her.

"Yes of course but the escape plan, if we're spotted, is the brooms which Caradoc is hiding now in a bush."

"Why can't we just apparate?"

Emmeline clucked in annoyance. "Anti-apparition jinx on the street. I've told you that twice already."

"I'm sorry, it's just odd that the Ministry would allow that."

"It's amazing the doors money can open. Now, if we have to escape by flying, do not fly to Headquarters. There's a house in Kensington that's a safe house, so we'll go there. It's got the highest level of protection from Dumbledore himself and if they follow, they won't be able to get into the property."

"But Headquarters would be safer, right?"

"We can't lead them to Headquarters," Emmeline said firmly. "Just because they can't get in doesn't mean they can't set the building on fire if they know where it is, or ambush Order members when they are coming in and out. We get to the safe house and we contact the Order and wait for instructions."

Alice nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"All right," Emmeline said, standing up in the bus they were riding. "We're here."

There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the Lestrange's London home. It was a gated property, with tall iron gates attached to a white wall that obscured most of the house so that you could only glimpse it through the iron gates. The house itself had a Victorian feel. It was a wide and white double story brick home. A dark wooden door was set just to the left of the middle of the house, the right side jutting out with a bay window, where light was peeking out of the closed curtains.

"What are we supposed to be looking for?" Alice hissed because surely the mission couldn't just be to watch a house.

"Dumbledore thinks they're hosting a gathering of some sort with Death Eaters."

"So they're having a party."

"Yes."

Alice wanted to ask why they would care if Bellatrix Lestrange was hosting a party and how that would help their effort in the war against the very people in that house but she got the vague impression she was asking too many questions for Emmeline's liking. Emmeline pointed her wand at Alice and she felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

"What was that?" she hissed.

"Invisibility charm. Only we can see each other."

Alice nodded and turned back to the house. They stood there for an hour before anything interesting happened. A group of three in black robes carelessly appeared at the end of the street and started making their way to the Lestrange house.

"Do you recognise them?"

Alice shook her head but they were too far to tell. As they approached though Alice nudged her sister and whispered, "Severus Snape, Evan Rosier and Dominique Mulciber."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Emmeline and Alice turned their attention back to the three men who walked through the iron gates as though there were nothing there at all. Emmeline pulled out a small notebook and a quill and jotted down the names and Alice understood now why they were stalking Bellatrix's party. They were seeing who had joined his ranks.

A total of seven Hogwarts' graduates walked through those gates. Severus Snape, Evan Rosier, Dominique Mulciber, Alvena Aitken, Peyton Aitken, Salvotre Yaxely and Octavia Malfoy. All Slytherins, not that Alice found it in herself to be shocked, in fact, if she was shocked about anything at all, it would be that there weren't more Slytherins from her year joining. After all, twelve Gryffindors had joined the Order of the Phoenix, as well as eight other students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Another seven for the Dark Lord," Emmeline muttered bitterly.

"So? The Order just got twenty," Alice pointed out.

Emmeline sighed. "You'll come to see that every one of them, is worth at least two of us."

"We can't be that bad at fighting," Alice frowned.

"It's not about fighting, Alice. It's about what you're willing to do. About how far you're willing to go to stop the other side. They're willing to kill us. To maim us. To torture us. Are you?"

A shiver went down Alice's spine as she thought about it. Could she point her wand at another person and command it to kill that person? No, she decided the moment she asked herself. It was a decision that she'd surely debate with herself in the future countless times.

"Hello, are you lost?"

Alice and Emmeline glanced at each other wide eyed before turning to the person who had questioned them. Bellatrix Lestrange flanked by Severus Snape and Dominique Mulciber stood behind them.

"Come to join the party, perhaps?" Bellatrix tried again. "The Dark Lord would love to have you in our ranks and I've heard you're quite the fighter, Emmy."

"We were just out for a walk," Emmeline said stiffly.

"Under an invisibility charm. Do you think I am a fool?" Bellatrix asked. "This whole street is charmed to alert me of any and all magical presence."

"A little paranoid, are you Bella?" Alice asked, her hand in her pocket, clutching at her wand.

"Prepared," she corrected. "Now why are you really here? If you were alone Emmy, I'd say you were spying on me for that little group you're in."

"Al, let's go."

"So soon? Why don't you come in?"

"We don't keep company with Death Eaters," Alice smiled. "Thanks for the offer though."

Alice and Emmeline both went to move but the two men pulled their wands out and Alice thought about the lengths they were willing to go to. Her and Emmeline had just been talking about it. She wondered if they'd use an unforgivable on them just because they'd been standing outside their house and all at once she was very afraid. This wasn't school where everything could be deflected or fixed. Alice could imagine that flash of green coming towards her and she knew there wasn't a way to stop it.

Emmeline drew out her own wand. "Let us through."

"Why are you here?" Bellatrix asked.

" _Accio_ brooms!"

Alice grabbed the broom that zoomed towards her, as Emmeline did the same she climbed on, ignoring the voice that told her she hadn't flown in years.

"Only cowards run!" Bellatrix shrieked at them as they kicked off.

Alice stole a glance down and saw them mounting their own brooms. "Em! They're coming!"

"Just follow me! Remember the plan!"

They both pressed themselves flat against their brooms, speeding through the sky. They'd barely been flying for a minute when Alice saw the first green flash of light whiz between the two girls. They kept flying, going as fast as they could but the sky was lit up in green lights and Emmeline dived down. Alice followed.

"We can use the taller buildings for cover!"

They twisted around and above the London sky rises, playing a game of cat and mouse that Alice wasn't sure they could win. She could hear sirens below, a car seemed to be chasing something, it was like a smaller version of a car.

"Split up! Meet me in the air!"

Alice nodded and when Emmeline stayed straight, Alice turned into an alley, using the cars that seemed to be chasing each other as a guide. She flew high, high enough that they didn't notice her and she kept flying up until she realised that she wasn't being followed anymore. She pulled around and peered down into the alley.

* * *

"Why are we losing altitude?" James yelled over the whistling wind. They'd been flying for hours and it had been amazing. Sirius was completely smitten with the bike and James was sure, as Lily had put it, that he wouldn't be able to pry the bike out of Sirius' cold dead hands.

Sirius barely heard what James had said but he checked the fuel gauge and frowned. "We're almost out of fuel!" he yelled back, immediately quickly adjusting for a much faster decent.

"You can't just fly a bike into the middle of a London street!" James protested.

"I'll pick a quiet one unless you'd prefer being splatter on the pavement?"

"It better be fucking desolate!"

Sirius put his thumb up and started scanning the London grid below them for a quiet, desolate street. As he circled lower down to the streets, the bike started sputtering and the bike was running on almost no fuel.

"There!" James pointed at a small street between two buildings.

Sirius nodded and steered over towards the quiet lane before landing onto the pavement. James hopped off the bike as it ran completely out of fuel and rolled into a stop.

"Now what?" James asked.

"Roll her to a petrol station, fuel her up and head home."

James shrugged and nodded. They ended up rolling the bike through muggle London in search of a petrol station that nothing but sheer dumb luck could put in their path. It was fun roaming muggle London though. James had only ever done it with Lily and she always had an agenda, things to show him and he loved that but this was nice too.

They wandered in and out of shops, browsing at the variety of muggle clothing and trinkets. James couldn't help himself when they stumbled across a black t-shirt with a golden-orange bird on it that reminded James of a phoenix.

"We don't have money, genius," Sirius pointed out when James showed him.

"We could go try them on and just duplicate them," James argued.

Sirius clapped his shoulder, "It's nice to know that Lily hasn't turned you completely soft."

"Shove off," James rolled his eyes. "You in?"

"We're duplicating shirts not robbing Gringotts."

They left the store wearing the shirts under their leather jackets and to stop the muggles from noticing they'd placed forget-me charms on them.

On the next block they found a petrol station where, with some difficulty figuring out how the muggle contraption worked, re-fueled the bike. They rode her out of the petrol station and right onto the streets of London, this time James drove with Sirius on the back.

James sped through the streets, slipping around cars and buses and trying to understand what the different coloured lights meant at intersections. They were driving down a large three-lane road when sirens started blaring behind them. Sirius turned his head and swore.

"Muggle aurors!"

"Fuck! We can't stop! We don't have licenses or anything and what if they body search us and find our wands?"

"Nevermind that!" Sirius shouted, "If they try to drive the bike and she flies, we're going to be in a lot of trouble with the Ministry."

James sped the engine up and they shot forward, speeding around cars until they were back onto quieter streets but the vehicle with red and blue lights was still speeding after them.

"If we lose them for even a minute, we can put an invisibility charm and fly!" James shouted, as he turned, knees almost scrapping against the pavement, into a small one way street.

"Just drive, I'll say when!" Sirius ordered. "And try to keep us on the bike!"

James pushed the bike even more, trying to make the next turn with enough time for Sirius to make them invisible. Gunning the bike, he turned sharply, Sirius with his wand in his hand held on tighter to James as the bike angled dangerously once more to the pavement but James had made a grave mistake.

The street was blocked by a metal fence and the roaring car rounded the corner too soon for Sirius to safely cast an invisibility charm.

"Damn it!" James hissed, skidding the bike to a stop before they crashed into the fence.

The muggles stepped out of their car, ordering James and Sirius to get off the vehicle. They both did as asked, James turning off the engine and Sirius sticking his wand in his waist band, using his shirt to hide it.

"I am Sergeant Fisher and this is Constable Anderson. "Are you aware that you were going well over the speed limit?"

"No," James answered honestly. He had no clue what they were on about.

"What are your names?" Anderson asked.

"Wilberforce, Bathsheba and Elvendork," Sirius answered.

"Wilberforce Bathsheba, and Elvendork?" Anderson questioned, confused at the odd names.

"Yes," James confirmed, "The three men we were running from."

"Running from? We didn't see any other vehicles."

"Your sirens might've frightened them," James admitted. "We thought they'd still come after us."

"What was the nature of your relationship with these pursuers?"

"Not good," Sirius answered. "Not good at all. Cousins of mine," he admitted.

"Wrong side of the tracks," James continued, "His family is. Terrible names and even more terrible morals."

"Were they pursuing you in a violent nature?"

"Yes," James and Sirius both answered and Sirius continued. "They're in a nasty business of sorts, I don't want any part of it so I left. They don't like that very much."

"You still haven't told us your names," Fisher pointed out.

"Ah, of course. I'm James Potter. This is Sirius Black."

"That is a terrible name," Anderson commented. "What kind of business are your family involved with, Mr Black?"

"Ahh—"

Sirius was about to answer but suddenly, three wizards on brooms swooped down on them, James pushing Sirius to the ground.

"What the ever-loving fuck!" Sirius shouted at James as they both pulled out their wands.

The two muggles pointed a contraption of some sort at the men on broomsticks and one let off a horrendous bang. The person on the left yelped in pain. The other two raised their wands in retaliation. James and Sirius jumped up.

"The car!" James shouted and Sirius aimed his wand at the car.

Together, they lifted it off the ground blocking the attackers curses.

"We gotta get out of here!"

"Who the hell are on the brooms?"

"Death Eaters!"

"Well obviously!" James shouted back. "We gotta make those two forget."

"You do it, I've got the car!"

James aimed his wand instead at Anderson and concentrating, obliviated the man's thoughts from the last half hour. He quickly did the same to Fisher who had started firing his contraption at James. James dodged it by an inch and fired the obliviating charm again. This time it worked and Sirius dropped the car as James and Sirius hopped onto the back of the bike.

They sped off into the air, the three wizards following them. James quickly cast invisibility charms on everything and silenced the engine. Sirius dropped down so the men flew above and passed them.

"Where the fuck did they come from?" James asked. "And who were they?"

"No clue. Didn't get a good look. Wanna go find out?"

"And risk them catching us? No. Let's just go home," James insisted.

"Yeah, you're right," Sirius agreed, and they did something they'd never quite accomplished at school. They let it go and went the other way when perhaps, for the first time, they should've went towards it.

* * *

Emmeline and Alice watched as the two wizards jumped on some sort of muggle contraption and sped up into the air. Bellatrix shouted something at the other two and all three of them re-focused their attention on Emmeline and Alice.

"Was that-"

"WATCH OUT!" Alice shouted shoving Emmeline out of the way just in time to miss the flash of green that had been shot their way. Emmeline looped around back next to Alice and she sighed in relief before turning back to the three Death Eaters as Emmeline wasted no time in sending stunners back at them.

The sky was lit up with flashes of colourful lights — red, green, blue, yellow, purple, pink — Alice didn't know where to look first, didn't know what to do first. It was exactly what her instructor in Auror training had described and yet she was powerless to process it. It was too fast, too loud, too much movement.

"ALICE!" Emmeline shouted.

Alice jolted, and flew down beneath the Death Eaters, her cousins, and shot stunners up at them as she snuck under them ending up on the other side so they were wedged between herself and Emmeline but when Alice pulled up to a stop, she saw Emmeline falling. Her body seized, shaking and convulsing as she fell through the air.

A flash of green missed her by an inch.

"Don't fret, Alice dear, she was holding you back," Bellatrix flew closer to Alice and Alice glowered. "Now you can join the right side, the winning side."

"Not in a million years," Alice spat and then with a flick of her wand all three of them were pushed several meters back, enough that Alice could jet straight for Emmeline.

Alice pressed herself flat against the broom, for the first time she wished she'd been a great flier. There was too much space between Alice and Emmeline, she wasn't going to make it. They'd lost half their altitude space, Alice was sure of it, and the ground was looking frighteningly too close and Alice was going too fast. Even if she did catch Emmeline before she hit the ground, Alice wouldn't be able to break in time.

"ALICE PULL UP!"

She didn't know where the voice came from but suddenly, Emmeline was dangling in mid-air, as though someone were holding her by her wrist.

"ALICE! PULL UP! YOU'RE GOING TO CRASH!"

Alice, foregoing all sense, pulled up just as she was about to careen into the pavement between two rather tall buildings. She flew back to where Emmeline was, now looking as though she were sitting on something.

"Who's there?" Alice shouted.

"Al, it's us! James and Sirius! Fuck! James, what's the damn password so she can see us?"

"Point to yourself and say, 'carrot sticks'."

Alice did us they asked and they materialised right before her eyes. James was holding Emmeline across his lap so she was wedged between Sirius back and James' front.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief. "We have to get out of here! What if they come back?" Alice whirled in the air, twisting and turning until she spotted Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Lucius. "Why aren't they coming after us?" Alice asked as she watched them search the skies.

"You're under our invisibility charm," James told her. "They can't see or hear us. What'd they hit her with?"

Alice flew over. "I don't know! I didn't see! Give her to me, I have to get her to headquarters. Someone will be able to- to help."

"We'll fly there now. Just take a breath, Alice. We're only a few minutes out from Headquarters."

Alice wanted to argue that it wasn't fast enough but she also didn't want to waste time arguing, so she followed as the boys led the way to Headquarters.

* * *

 _Author's Note_ : Hello to whoever is still reading this! Sorry for the very, very delayed update but it is 2am and I have decided to just post this chapter without proof reading because I'm a terrible person who 110% does not have their life together.

Hope you enjoy and you know the drill, if you do, please times a million review!

-Natalie xx


	30. Chapter 29: Summer's End

James was sitting nervously in the players box watching the game. Puddlemere United was tying at 90 points with the Appleby Arrows and James was nervous for his team. At this point it was anyones game, either team could catch the snitch and they would win. The two teams were too similarly matched in skill and they're playing strategy too similar which made it easy for the Arrows to anticipate and block Pud U's plays. The only positive was that it also made it easy for Pud U to anticipate and block the Arrows plays. The hole game was riding on the seeker.

Pud U's seeker was Emelie Veranov. She was good but she wasn't the best, she'd never make it in the record books as 'one of the greats' so if it came to the two seekers spotting the snitch at the same time, James gathered that it would mostly rely on luck on Veranov's part because she was a little slow on acceleration and she wouldn't go that extra step to catch the snitch. The Arrows seeker, Milo Kingsman pulled absurd moves to catch the snitch all the time, the most notable ever being the time he flew, flat pressed against his broom and sideways between two players of the opposing team, snatching the snitch right as the opposing team players was about to grab it from the opposite direction. Reports say that the two seekers hands had actually brushed against each other — that's how close it was.

The Vincent Hellcot sat in the front row with the assistant coach and the manager, watching the game and James' nerves continued to build. It was the first match of the season and James' first game ever, he didn't even know if he was going to play but Hellcot had said possibly and James was wishing for that possibly to turn into yes but now, seeing how many people had showed up, he was nervous and maybe, only slightly, wished that the possibility would stay a possibility. He didn't need yes and he didn't want no and that's what he was feeling at the moment when a bludger hit Billy Knight in the head. Knight swayed on his broom dangerously for a few moments until another chaser went to steady him.

"Time! Medical assistance!" Jenny Merlin, Captain and fellow chaser for Pud U, shouted and the referee blew his whistle. Merlin and Dawson helped Knight to the ground, the rest of the team landing around them as the Arrows formed a huddle at the other end. Healers ran onto the field.

James watched as Merlin listened to what the healers were saying and then she looked up at the box and shook her head. Hellcot turned to James.

"Your time to shine, Potter."

—

Sirius hit her arm and pointed at the man that just flew out of the tunnel, except it wasn't a man.

"That's James!" Sirius whooped. "The son of a bitch!"

"He's playing," Lily smiled and then, "Holy Merlin! He's playing!" Sirius and Lily high fived and cheered like crazy for James as the commentator introduced him to the crowd.

"JAME POTTER! RESERVE CHASER FOR PUDDLEMERE UNITED. HE SEEMS TO BE TAKING BILLY KNIGHT'S SPOT ON THE FIELD! AND THAT IS A DEFINITE CONFIRMATION! HEALER'S HAVE DECLARED IT UNSAFE FOR KNIGHT TO FLY! REFEREE HEPBURN HAS CALLED AN END TO TIME OUT AND THE TEAMS ARE GETTING IN POSITION. POTTER TAKES LEFT FIELD OPPOSITE HOLMES. SEEKERS VERANOV AND KINGSMAN ARE SEARCHING THE FIELD FOR THE SNITCH AND CAPTAINS MERLIN AND BOSCOV WAIT FOR THE BALL TO BE TOSSED UP BY HEPBURN!"

Lily waited with baited breath, whispering, " _You'll be fine, you'll be fine, you'll be fine_ ," under her breath. She knew how nervous James was to prove himself and he'd never played nervous before and that made her nervous. He always had the confidence, the knowledge that he was the best at the game. He'd been a big fish in a little pond, now though, now he was the little fish in a big pond.

"AND PUD U TAKES THE BALL! MERLIN STREAKS DOWN THE FIELD. PASSES TO DAWSON! POTTER! MERLIN! POTTER! HOLMES INTER- POTTER DODGES AND SCORES! AND WHAT A START TO POTTER'S CAREER! THAT'S GOTTA BE A RECORD!"

Lily screamed louder than she ever thought possible and her hands hurt from clapping so hard. Then she started laughing. All that worrying for nothing. He wasn't on the field for a minute and he'd already scored a bloody goal.

"ARROWS TAKE THE BALL! HOLMES FLIES DOWNFIELD. POTTER'S HOT ON HIS TAIL! HOLMES PASSES TO BOSCOV! BING! BOSCOV! HOLMES! AND POTTER INTERCEPTS THE PASS TO BING! PASSES TO MERLIN! DAWSON! GOOD DODGE OF THAT BLUDGER HIT HIS WAY BY GREGORY! SPEEDS UPFIELD AND SCORES! PUDDLEMERE IS ON FIRE!"

Lily grinned at Sirius as they cheered on Puddlemere United. They watched, captivated as James intercepted another pass between the Arrows and streaked upfield, feinted left and put the quaffle through the right hoop.

"AND POTTER SCORES AGAIN! SCORING ACROSS FIELD AND BRINGING THE SCORE TO ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TO NINETY! AND KINGSMAN SPOTS THE SNITCH AND SO HAS VERANOV! KINGSMAN DODGES A BLUDGER! VERANOV HAS A CLEAR PATH! KINGSMAN DODGES ANOTHER BLUDGER AND VERANOV CATCHES THE SNITCH!"

Lily shrieked with happiness, cheering and clapping as loudly as she possibly could as James flew around the pitch with the rest of the team.

—

James couldn't believe it. They'd won! He'd played more than decent! He'd played how he always did and it was like a weight lifted off him when Hellcot clapped him on the shoulder, "You did brilliant."

"Thank you, Mr Hellcot."

"And I don't know about an all time Quidditch league record but you've definitely broken a Pud U record — first new player to score a goal within under a minute of being put on the field for the first game."

James allowed himself a grin. "I — thank you, sir."

"Get yourself cleaned up. I'll see you Monday."

James nodded and he left leaving James alone in the locker room. James' mind was still reeling from the adrenaline of it all. People had shouted his name, hundreds of people had cheered him on. Just thinking about it made James want to _do_ something like dance really embarrassingly or shout or sing obnoxiously. Honestly, all three seemed viable that was until Lily waltzed in as though she'd been here a dozen times before and now, James did smile obnoxiously.

"How on earth did you get passed the security?" he asked with a grin, walking up to her.

"Knowing Sirius Black has its perks," Lily shrugged, slipping her arms around his shoulders, "One of those being his ability to create a diversion. You did amazing." She was looking at him like he held the stars and moon in the sky and he grabbed her pulling her closer.

"I was so nervous."

"You didn't look it and most importantly, you didn't play it."

"I know, as soon as I was on that broom, eyes on the quaffle," he shrugged. "Everything else just slipped away. It was just me, the quaffle and the hoops. Merlin, Lily, I could have played for _hours_."

Lily reached up to press a kiss to his lips, "You've still got it and it was so incredibly sexy." She kissed him again, slower this time and longer. Her fingers curled into his hair as she pushed up on her toes to get better leverage. He helped by lifting her so she wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing them even closer together.

He pulled back barely, "I'm sweaty," he mumbled as she attacked his lips again.

"So sexy," she repeated, nipping at his lip.

* * *

The bell rang and Alice groaned, keeping her eyes shut. It was a Sunday. A glorious, do nothing Sunday and she had planned to sleep in until twelve, a feat she hadn't been able to accomplish all summer and at this point her body _needed_ it. Between running back and forth from the hospital for Emmeline, auror training and wedding planning, Alice had been dead on her feet so she rolled over and ignored it.

Except, it rang again. And again. And again. Groaning again, Alice threw the covers off and stomped out of bed and all the way down the stairs to open the stupid door only to be met with Narcissa Black.

"Oh, I've woken you," Narcissa exclaimed.

Alice gobsmacked as to why her cousin was on her front door with a basket of muffins and a bouquet of flowers didn't really think when she stepped aside and said, "Come in then. I'll get changed and we can have," Alice really didn't know why she was doing this, "Tea." Her brain was definitely still sleeping.

Alice walked with Narcissa to the drawing room before heading back up the stairs to her room. There she quickly threw on a summer dress, pulled a brush through her hair before using a charm to plait it and slipped on sandals.

She came back into the drawing room with two mugs of tea and after placing them both on the table between the couches, sat opposite Narcissa. Alice glanced around the room and saw that Narcissa had put the bouquet in the empty vase that they had on the side table and the basket of muffins sat next to it. Her eyes flickered back to Narcissa.

She was the same as Alice had always known her. Straight backed, pale blue eyes that were almost grey like her cousin's and like all Blacks, she had high cheek bones but like the Vances she sported honey blonde hair. Today, it was in a half-up, half down do and she wore a blue collared, button-up dress with a white belt fastened around her waist and white pumps on her feet, to top it all off, white lace gloves covered her hands. She was pretty as a picture and that's how Alice had always known Narcissa Black.

"I heard about your engagement to Frank," Narcissa started. "We were all thrilled to hear about it! Have you started planning yet?"

"Thank you," Alice said. "Frank's mum is taking care of most of it. We're thinking of keeping it small."

Narcissa smiled. "Nothing like mine then. You know, mama's sent out almost five hundred invitations. I didn't even know we knew that many people and she just about talks my ear off about everything."

Alice returned the smile tightly and maybe sense started seeping back in because she took a sip of her tea and then asked, maybe a little rudely, "Why are you here?"

"I — well, your sister and you haven't RSVP'd for the wedding yet and as it's only a few weeks away, mama and I really need to know. I thought I'd come pass, congratulate you on your own engagement."

Alice laughed bitterly. "I can't tell if you're being serious right now."

"The caterers need to know," Narcissa explained, sliding a lock of hair behind her ear.

"No," Alice snapped. "We won't be attending as Emmeline is in St Mungo's thanks to Bella."

"I was hoping we could put all that aside for the wedding. Politics shouldn't interfere with our personal lives." Narcissa looked at Alice almost pleadingly but Alice couldn't fathom why, like she said her mother had invited almost five hundred people so they shouldn't be missed, in fact, Alice didn't want them to be missed. She didn't want anything to do with that family.

"I repeat, I can't tell if you're being serious right now. Cissa, my sister is in the _hospital_ because of yours. This _is_ personal and you're delusional if you think we can just play happy families. We won't be attending. We want nothing to do with your family."

"I hope you reconsider," Narcissa said sincerely. "Your father is my mother's brother after all and we are cousins."

"Cousins don't shoot killing spells at each other," Alice said firmly. "We won't be reconsidering."

Narcissa nodded, biting her lip. "I suppose I should go then."

"Yes," Alice agreed. "You should."

Alice saw Narcissa out and then paced in her foyer. So much for her glorious do nothing Sunday, she thought glumly. She didn't even attempt to go back to sleep, she was way too wired. So she grabbed her purse and apparated to the hospital.

"Is Healer Adams in today?" she asked the front desk.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but she'll see me. We're friends."

"She'll be on the fourth floor."

"Thank you."

Alice made her way up to the fourth floor and asked the desk there, the lady directed her to a room Marlene would be in.

"Alice? Is Emmeline okay? I thought you weren't coming in today." Marlene was checking things off a clipboard in a storeroom.

"Em's fine. She's fine. I just I need to rant."

"What happened?"

Alice quickly explained about Narcissa's unannounced visit and Marlene whistled lowly. "God, the nerve of that family."

"I swear the whole family's gone mad!" Alice ranted to Marlene as they walked through the aisles. "She had the audacity to ask me if I was attending her wedding after her sister cursed Emmeline out of the goddamned sky!"

"Al, take a breath," Marlene instructed. "Your cousins are crazy. I mean we are talking about the same family who disowned their daughter for marrying a Hufflepuff-"

"He was muggle-born."

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "That doesn't make it better."

"Yes I know," Alice complained. "They're terrible, terrible people who clearly took after the Black side instead of the Vance side."

"You know, in the muggle world there's actually a study that says incest makes people mad."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"Nothing," Marlene shrugged, "Just that the Blacks are probably the most incestuous wizarding family in England so your cousins crazy could be explained."

"That does nothing to make me feel better."

"Oh well it should since you're family is only family with the Blacks by marriage."

"Ha ha." Alice stopped as they approached Emmeline's room.

"Look, if you want to hang out for another half hour, I'll have an hour for lunch and we can go eat."

Alice nodded. "Yeah, yeah that sounds good. I'll just pop in on Em to make sure she's all right."

"I saw her this morning. She's doing real well, Al. They've started weening her off the potions she was taking and her body is responding really well. She'll be back to normal in no time."

Alice exhaled a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

* * *

Sirius sulked at the back of the meeting, his arms crossed over his chest, his head down as Euphemia lectured at the front of the small hall. Witches and wizards glanced at him because he did not look like the usual audience for something like this. In a leather jacket and ripped up jeans, his hair the most elegant part of his outfit, Sirius Black didn't blend in. Then there were the people who stared because he was a Black, the Black who betrayed his family's values and was taken in by the kind-hearted Potters.

People loved to stare at that because they didn't know what to expect of Sirius. Was he like the Potters? He didn't dress like them. Was he like the Blacks? He ran away from them. So was he good or was he bad? People couldn't answer the question, so they stared intrigued but too scared to ask.

"Later today I'll be in a meeting with Mr Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to persuade him to join our attempts at swaying the Wizengamot to abolish the _Muggleborn Register Bill_. This bill accomplishes nothing other than to make muggle-borns feel separate in our society. Why should the Ministry have to publish a list of muggle-borns every year? Are they criminals? Are they a danger to our society?" Euphemia asked the hall. "We cannot treat innocent people as criminals. They have done nothing wrong. If you feel the same way please owl members of the Wizengamot, we know so far that thirty-one members that are in favour of the bill, those members names are listed on the brochures Miss Bones has handed out. Thank you for attending and I hope to see you all next week! We have refreshments at the back of the hall!" Euphemia made her way off the small podium as everyone else started standing up and heading to the back of the hall.

Some left, some queued up for tea and biscuits. Sirius stayed seated until Euphemia, after making her rounds chatting with friends and members, found him.

"Come on."

"We're going?"

"To the Ministry."

"Are you really trying to get Crouch in on this?" Sirius quirked a brow.

Euphemia looked at him impressed, "You were actually listening. I couldn't tell with how you were slouching at the back and glaring at everyone."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah because they were staring at me."

"I see though you can hardly blame them, dear, you dress like you should be on a headlining tour for the _Roaring Dragons_. You can't expect them not to be jealous of your fabulous style."

Sirius cracked a grin and stood. "Please, they could never even pull this off. I didn't even know about that bill."

"A lot of this stuff gets passed through quietly. They don't want the public to know until it's too late so it's all hush hush unless you have someone in the know who tells you."

"And you do?"

"I do," Euphemia agreed.

"And so M.A.E stops all these super secret bills from passing."

"We do our best. You know, annoying Wizengamot members into submission. Ready? We're going to be late for Mr Crouch."

Sirius nodded and he and Euphemia apparated to an alley near the Ministry, entering through the visitors entrance — the telephone booth on a quiet London street.

It occurred to Sirius as they walked through the atrium that he'd see where Ella works for the first time. Euphemia walked briskly with Sirius a step behind ignoring everyone who turned their heads to glimpse at Sirius. When they reached security the brawly wizard gestured to Sirius and said, "What are you in for?"

"A fashion sense," Sirius remarked. "Apparently it's illegal."

Euphemia put her arm around Sirius' shoulder. "He's not in for anything, Mr Brennan. This is my son, Sirius."

"I didn't know you had a second son, Mrs Potter."

"She got bored of the first one," Sirius joked. "I'm much better."

Euphemia shook her head as Mr Brennan gave her their wands back. "You have a wonderful day now, Mrs Potter. Mister Potter."

They passed security and rode the elevator to level two where they stepped off.

"Please avoid your humorous remarks when talking to Mr Crouch. It's really important that we have him on our side. He has a lot of say with the Wizengamot, especially the old, stuck-up brutes."

"Yes, m'am."

They made their way to Mr Crouch's office only for Ella to be the one to greet them.

"Mr Crouch will only be a minute, Mrs Potter," Ella told Euphemia.

"Nice of him to make us wait," Sirius remarked only to receive glares from both women.

"Actually, Sirius, dear maybe it's better you don't attend the meeting. Why don't you go grab something to eat?"

Sirius was about to decline but Ella jumped in, "That's perfect, you can take me to lunch since my hour has just started."

"Convenient."

"Wonderful!" Euphemia enthused before being distracted by Mr Crouch's presence. She was whisked away behind a closed door and Sirius was left with Ella.

"Where to for lunch then?" he asked her.

After they were settled in a cafe off the atrium, Ella coughed, "So, it's almost the end of summer."

"Yeah. Time's really flown. It's odd to think we won't be going back to school."

"Only because you're unemployed," Ella teased. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Sirius cocked his head slightly and Ella bent down to pull out a folded prophet from her bag. She put it on the table in front of Sirius and an add for an apartment was circled.

"Oh," Sirius said.

"We always said at the end of summer, right?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded, picking up the paper, "Yeah we did. I guess I just hadn't given it a lot of thought." The apartment seemed like a decent size for two people and in the heart of London, barely a five minute walk from the Ministry.

"Oh."

"Not that I don't want to," Sirius added. "This place seems nice. Let's do it."

"Seriously?"

"Dead serious."

Ella groaned. "I hate it when you pun your own bloody name. That joke got old like seven years ago."

Sirius chuckled. "But it's just so easy and satisfying. But seriously, Ella," he grabbed her hand, "Set up a viewing for the apartment."

Ella smiled. "Ok, let's do this."

By the end of the hour, an owl had been sent to the agent and Sirius and Ella were a little giddy when they meet Euphemia in the atrium. Ella bid goodbye to both of them and Euphemia and Sirius headed home, Euphemia telling him about how the meeting with Crouch seemed to go well and she was confident Crouch would support her.

"—And goodbye Muggle-Born Register Bill of nineteen seventy eight."

Sirius chuckled as they walked into the house together. "Have you stopped anything passing before?"

"We stopped a _Werewolf Registration Bill_ from being passed about a year ago. It said all werewolves had to be listed, after we argued that being a werewolf shouldn't be a criminal offence they amended it to werewolves with criminal activity. Then there was the _Magic Restrictions Bill_ that said houses in muggle towns or cities required permits to use magic within the property — as in people would have to pay the Ministry to use magic in their own homes. We shut that down about six months ago. There've been a few other dumb laws that we've stopped but those were the two hardest."

"Huh, this is just like a more political version of the Order," Sirius mused.

"What was that?" Euphemia asked.

"The Order of the Phoenix," Sirius said. "We focus more on fighting whereas you lot focus more on laws and stuff."

"We?" Euphemia asked.

Sirius seemed to realise he'd made a mistake. "Yeah, the Order."

"You said 'we' and how do you even know what the Order is? Did Monty tell you?"

"No — no," Sirius said. "I just — we found out."

"How?"

Sirius looked down. He hated lying to Euphemia. She had given him so much, a home, a family, a mother.

"Sirius Black, do not tell me that you and my idiot son joined that group?"

—

The front door swung open and James waltzed in, carrying his broom with a big grin on his face. "Hellcot told me that my flying is superb and if I keep it up, I can make it to the main team by next season!" James placed his broom down on the side of the foyer and looked up at Sirius and his mother, only to notice Sirius' I-fucked-up face and Euphemia's 'Minerva McGonagall's' face. "What's, uh, what's wrong?"

"Sirius and I were just discussing your involvement with the Order of the Phoenix," his mother said, hands on her hips, her hazel eyes blazing and jaw set tight.

James found himself wishing he'd gone to visit Lily or Remus or Peter or anyone really because his mother was now killing his very happy mood from Quidditch and all because his best mate couldn't keep his trap shut.

James pushed the glasses up his nose, "Well, that's, er, interesting."

"Is it?" Euphemia questioned. "Because I think it's stupid of the both of you! And how did you even find out about the Order? It's supposed to be a secret organisation! Children shouldn't know about it!"

"We knew that Dumbledore was planning to fight back for a while before he invited us to join," James sighed, knowing his mother would not let them leave until she knew every single detail.

"Who invited you to join? Dumbledore? Right, well, you'll both be writing him today to tell him that you've reconsidered and that you won't be joining."

"Mum!" James protested. "We aren't kids anymore and we joined for the same reason why you started M.A.E and for the same reason that you and dad back-up the Order financially. It matters."

"Don't you dare compare this to what your father and I do or don't do! We've lived our lives, we travelled, and got married and had kids! You're just starting out! You shouldn't have to fight!"

"Just because we shouldn't have to doesn't mean we shouldn't!" James retorted. "And don't act like you and dad don't put this whole family in danger by supporting Dumbledore because you and I both know that if Voldemort were to find out, he'd come after all of us!"

"There's a difference between financially backing Dumbledore and going off sneaking after Death Eaters trying to thwart their plans! You're going to get yourselves killed and you're delusional if you think Dumbledore cares about anything but his grand plans! No, you two will drop out of the Order now or else I'll cut the funding," Euphemia threatened. "The Order can say goodbye to headquarters whilst they're at it!"

"I can't do that, Mrs P," Sirius said quietly and Euphemia whirled on him. "Like James said, it matters and I didn't escape from the Blacks only to stand by as we lose to _them_. I don't think I could bare it if the world turns into what it was like inside that house so I'm going to do my bloody best to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Sirius is right, mum," James said.

"And what about Lily? What does she think about all this?"

James chuckled breathlessly, "She was ready to join the moment she heard about it." Euphemia had always taught James to fight for the world he wanted but Lily, Lily was born knowing it. She was a fighter, as bright and loud as the mightiest blaze, James knew just from the way she talked about the Order, nothing would get in her way. Not even James if he'd ever was stupid enough to try and tell her otherwise.

Euphemia looked between the two boys, and seemingly defeated, she walked away, her shoes tapping against the steps. James didn't let out a breath until he heard her bedroom door close. His shoulders slumped as he toed off his shoes, bending down to pick them up before heading up the stairs too.

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut," James accused as Sirius followed him.

"It just slipped out — you know how I am with your mum."

James just nodded because he did know but that didn't make him any less mad. "Yeah," he sucked in a deep breath and sighed. "She threatened to cut the money."

"Monty will talk her down."

James didn't think so. James thought Euphemia was likely to blow another gasket when she found out that Fleamont had known they'd joined. He'd have to warn his dad.

"Yeah. I gotta meet up with Lily," James said. They were supposed to be visiting Emmeline at St Mungo's and then going for dinner. "You'll be all right, yeah?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll just be tinkering with the bike. Might go visit Pete and Remus."

James nodded before locking himself in the bathroom where he stewed for almost an hour until he decided Lily would really kill him if he kept her waiting any longer.

He shook his head at his girlfriend because upon entering her room, he completely forgot about his mum and Sirius and instead blurted out, "What in Merlin's name is all this?"

'All this' was Lily in James' old quidditch jersey, her hair piled in a bun atop her head writing on a blackboard of all things and Queen playing from the radio. Lily turned, chalk in hand and a determined look on her face.

"Good, you're here!" she exclaimed, she gestured back to the blackboard. "This is my six step plan to become friends with Francis Mulciber."

"You're what now?" James took a seat on her bed.

"Six step plan to befriend Francis Mulciber. New mission."

"Involving what exactly?" James frowned ever so slightly at the thought of Lily becoming friends with a Death Eater.

"Hey, don't frown at me," Lily protested, "I know what I'm doing and the mission is important. If Lovegood actually succeeds in doing what she wants to do and if we don't find out what Voldemort wants it for, well, we're screwed. We're even more screwed if we don't figure out a way to stop him from finding out the charm when Lovegood does figure it out."

"And what's the charm exactly?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, walking over and leaned down to peck him on the lips. "Nice try. You know I can't discuss that with you."

"Come on, Lils, this is important," he said, looping his arms around her waist to pull her in between his legs. "What if something happens to you and I don't have all the information? You," he hesitated for a moment, squeezed her hips lightly, "You could get hurt."

"I could," Lily agreed, resting her hands on his shoulders, "And then Gideon and Meadowes would come up with a plan."

"Prewett and Meadowes? The people we've only known — and barely — for under two months and you're going to trust them to have your back more than me?"

Lily sighed, leaning down to touch her lips to the top of his head and whispered, "James, this isn't about _us_. This is about the Order. We have to accept that they're are going to be some things we can't talk about. Besides, what I can't tell you has to do with work and you're going to have to respect that I won't be able to talk to you about the projects I'm assigned. Gideon's on the mission and he doesn't know what the charm is, well is trying to be."

James pulled her closer, burying his head in her stomach and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Of course you're right."

Lily hugged him back, her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just," he stopped and Lily pulled back to study him.

"What's wrong, Jems?"

"Sirius spilled the beans about the Order to mum and she threatened to cut funding if we don't drop out."

"Oh."

"I mean it's not Sirius' fault he can't lie to her. The bastard can lie to save his goddamned life but not if it was my mum he had to lie to."

"Sirius can't lie to your mum?" Lily asked, crinkling her nose at the oddness of the statement.

"It's not his fault … when he came to ours that night — hell, maybe it even started before then — but she's the mother he never had and he just, I don't know, he doesn't have a filter around her." James, at first, had thought Sirius was doing it to push Euphemia away, trying to see what buttons he'd have to push to make Euphemia push him away like his own mother did though after a while something changed. Sirius realised that Euphemia would love him no matter what he said and no matter what he did, and James figured out that he just trusted her — maybe more than he'd ever trusted another adult in his life and when Sirius started calling her mum, James knew he loved her like he did.

"How did you leave things with your mum?" Lily asked, sitting on his lap.

"Not good," James admitted. "She's not happy that we've joined. Thinks we're all going to get ourselves killed. She said Dumbledore doesn't care about us, he only cares about his grand plans."

"She'll come around."

"Sirius and I are hoping dad'll talk her down a little. I sent him an owl before I left. A forewarning, if you will."

"He wasn't home?"

"He was out with some old friends," James shrugged.

"He'll talk her around," Lily assured. "She's just worried."

James nodded and hoped she was right.

"Aren't we going to visit Emmeline?"

Lily nodded, "Let me get changed." She pressed a kiss to his lip before lifting off his lap. She busied herself with changing into jeans and a blue, sleeveless shirt and they set off for London.

* * *

Lily had been studying him all morning, analysing a way in. Of course she had a way in, being in the same project as him but she needed something more, something that would make him see her different than all their other co-workers. Something that would make him see her as a friend and so began Step One of the Six Step Plan to Befriend Francis Mulciber.

It was simple really. Give him the illusion that she was vulnerable. Nobody wanted to become friends with someone who looked intimidating or scary so she'd make him see that she was vulnerable, open to suggestion.

"Can you show me how you do that?" Lily asked, hugging a clipboard to her chest and peering at how Mulciber was forming a charm into a glowing red ball.

Mulciber looked at her studiously, as though wandering why a muggle-born was speaking to him and maybe he was thinking that. Lily shuffled her feet nervously as he turned back to his glowing red ball to concentrate. It was done, she'd need to find a way.

"All charms have a tangible form, you just have to stop it before it hits its target."

"I didn't know you could do that — that it was even possible," Lily exclaimed having no problem at filling her voice with extraordinary wonder — she might've been over selling it but that was the point. An over excitable intern, a charms nerd, could never be in league with Albus Dumbledore. "I never even considered that a charm doesn't have to hit its target."

"It's not really something that's taught. What use is a charm if it doesn't hit it's target? — Look, this is a stunning charm perfectly executed." A red ball glowed in front of their faces and Lily studied it, examining how the ball was seemingly made out of red strands all twined together. "And this is a stunning charm not perfectly executed." As the old ball vanished into nothingness, a new ball appeared but this ball was lighter in colour and it had less strands twining together, some sections of the ball looked as though they'd been broken.

Lily stared in awe and thinking back to Mulciber's question, she could find lots of reasons. Training. Combat training. Medical training. Any kind of training could be achieved using this technique. You could practise spells and never have to harm a person. You could know if a spell is performed correctly just by observing it's tangible presence.

"This is amazing," Lily gushed. "How do you do it?"

He glanced at her. "Don't you have something better to be doing?"

Lily shook her head, "We've reached maximum test tries on the mice today and besides, you can't just show me something that cool and not tell me how to do it."

"Spells are an extension from us. A lot of people assume that that extension ends when it leaves the tip of the wand — they're wrong. The extension ends when the spell hits its target. Like I said before, it's not taught in school and only few people have the mind power, the will, to do it."

"And how do you do it?"

"Theoretically, if a spell is an extension of us until it hits its target, if the spell caster wills it to, the spell can change in direction and speed no matter the way the wand is pointed."

"But don't spells do that anyways? Like the summoning charm. You can summon things that aren't in the same room."

"True but I'm speaking of even more direct spells. Spells you specifically aim at people, like a jinx or a hex. Watch. _Stupefy_." With a flick of his wand, the red light was shooting out of his wand but so slowly that the light wasn't a jet, it was like a slow moving lightening bolt and Lily could _see_ it's energy, the red sparks that flew out of the main stream and she watched as a spell aimed at a wall, hit the table instead.

"That — that's impossible," she breathed with amazement, not at all over-selling it this time. "How?"

"Like I said, if the spell caster wills it, it will."

She desperately wanted to ask how he learnt to do it but she didn't want to scare him off. She didn't need or want him thinking she was too nosy and sticking it where it didn't belong. There needed to be trust between them if this plan was going to work and even if he was showing her the coolest thing she'd seen since magical stalker maps, she had to keep her head in the game. He needed to trust her and he wouldn't do that if he became suspicious about her too early on or ever really. Lily really needed to keep the suspicion to a minimum to the point of non-existent.

"That really is amazing. I've never seen anything like it — I didn't even think it was possible and there were a lot of things in my life that I thought weren't possible but were. I wonder when I'll stop being surprised with magic and what it can do."

"Lily!" Gideon called, "Ready for lunch?"

Lily waved at Gideon, "Just a moment. Thanks for showing me that," she rested her hand on his shoulder briefly before walking towards Gideon. She purposely tripped on a chair leg for good measure. The more clumsy and nerdy she presented herself as, the least reason Mulciber would have to suspect her.

* * *

Kate Adams smiled as she watched her daughter charm her hair into a stylish bun.

"Mum, can you pass my make-up bag?" Marlene asked.

Kate Adams complied, reaching over for the baby blue bag that held Marlene's make-up and she stood behind her daughter as she placed it on the dresser.

Marlene glanced at her mum through the mirror, distracted as she grabbed the bag and started pulling the things she needed out. It was only the second time she glanced when Marlene noticed Kate's odd expression. "You okay?"

"Oh, nothing," Kate pressed a kiss to her hair, "I just have no doubt, that one day, we'll be in this very room getting ready for your own wedding," Kate smiled at their reflection in the mirror and Marlene did too. "I also have no doubt that it'll be Nate you'll meet at the end of the aisle."

Marlene chuckled softly as she pulled a lipstick out. "If you say so, mum."

"I do. My mum always said I'd end up marrying your dad and when I asked her how she knew, she said 'mothers always know' and she was right." Kate caught sight of the deep shade of pink Marlene was about to put on her lips and picked up the make-up bag. "Try this," Kate said, pulling out a more neutral pink. "You don't want your face to look too busy, Marly. It's a wedding not a disco."

Marlene took her mother's suggestion and when she walked into the McKinnon's living room a half hour later, she smiled slyly at the sight of Nate in full on dress robes and she knew her mum was right. She'd found as she had grown older that her mum usually was and this time proved no different because seeing Nate in dress robes with his hair neatly combed she couldn't only imagine it. She wanted for it to some day be true.

"Oh, Marly! You look gorgeous!" Nate's mum, Charlotte gushed and where Marlene had been standing unnoticed in the doorway, now a pair of eyes looked her up and down, his face blank and Marlene only panicked slightly. Was her hair wrong? Her make-up? Should she have gone for the bolder colours? Her face must look too washed out. She knew it. Merlin, she knew it. Maybe Faith would know some charms to fix it.

"Marls," Nate said breathlessly, from across the room.

"Did you say Marly's here?" Faith's shout came from upstairs. "I need her!"

She shrugged in a 'duty calls' sort of way and turned to go upstairs where she was confronted with the sight of a pacing Faith. If Marlene looked gorgeous, Faith was on another level completely. A higher level.

The white dress sparkled and dazzled, tight around the bust and torso with intricate beading of pearls and crystals and then the dress just flowed out into a full skirt of soft material with the beading bleeding through it. She looked like a fairytale.

"Oh, Faith," Marlene smiled still admiring the dress, "You look amazing! The dress couldn't have turned out better."

"I'm having a _you_ moment."

"What — ?"

"What if I fall down the aisle? What if he says no? What if I drop the ring? Or mess up the vows? What if it starts raining and my dress turns flatter than an a-cup? What if—"

"Okay!" Marlene interrupted grabbing Faith by the shoulders. "I think that's enough what if's. You're not falling down the aisle because you could walk in heels since you were eight and we used to play dress-ups in your mum's clothes. He's not going to say no because he's the one who asked and he loves you. You played seeker for three years, a gold band isn't going to defeat your iron grip. You're not going to mess up your vows because you've known them since your third date and your dress isn't going to turn out flatter than an a-cup because it is summer and there isn't a cloud in sight. Can we go get you married now?"

Marlene looked at Faith expectantly and she breathed out and nodded. "I'm getting married."

"That's the spirit. Now the photographer's waiting so let me help you down the stairs."

The ceremony was beautiful and the whole rush to the church and from the church to the reception meant Marlene didn't have a lot of alone time with Nate until the dancing started.

"I don't think I've had the chance to say you look beautiful," Nate said as they danced slowly on the dance floor.

Marlene laughed, "You're not too bad yourself. Faith looks really happy."

"Do you think we'll ever get to be that happy?" Nate murmured.

"Of course we will."

Even though she said it, she wasn't a hundred percent sure they would be. Their lives weren't set up to go down a happy path but she was optimistic. They'd already been in the Order for over a month now and nothing extraordinarily bad had happened apart from Emmeline being hospitalised and even she was going to be fine.

She hugged Nate closer, "We'll be even happier," she said.

* * *

The halls of Hogwarts were silent apart from their quiet chit chat. It reminded James of when they used to roam around after hours except they didn't need the map or the cloak now. They were just allowed because they weren't just aimlessly wandering, they were guarding.

"I'm moving out," Sirius stated. "Ella and I were house hunting all weekend and we've found a flat we're pretty sold on."

"It'll be weird without you."

"I always thought us four would live together after Hogwarts," Peter mused.

"So did I," Sirius admitted. "Never thought we'd be here."

"Here being patrolling the corridors after hours to guard it instead of mess shit up."

"Exactly. I think I know what it's like to be Filch. Still don't understand the bastard though."

James shook his head. "When are you going to tell mum and dad?"

"When she starts talking to me again."

James pursed his lips. The downside of being in the Order was that now his mother was not speaking to James, Sirius or Fleamont who had simply refused to pull funding for the Order and had, grudgingly, sided with Sirius and James. They were on week two of the silent treatment and if it wasn't for the house elves, James was sure someone would've cracked sooner but it was easier to ignore someone when you didn't depend on them to make food or wash the clothes.

Lily said that it was weird how long they'd all stayed mad at each other. "I swear mum and I will have a fight in the morning and by dinner we're fine." But James had never really had that experience.

"So what? You guys sit down and talk about it after only a few hours?" James had asked and Lily laughed.

"Talk about it?" she questioned. "God no. We just pretend like nothing happened with a mumbled mutual sorry."

James thought _that_ was weird. Everything was always talked out in the Potter household.

"She'll come around. She always does," James assured.

"It's weird to be here in the summer."

Sirius shrugged at Peter, "It's like how it always is. Except hotter."

"Yes, that's the weird part."

Remus shook his head and checked his wrist for the time. "We've an hour left before the next team shows up."

"It's Fabian's lot right?" James asked.

"Yeah, Hestia, Fabian, Fenwick and someone else I can't remember."

"Do you really think we can trust them?" James whispered quietly as though something would smite him for the untrusting thought because of course he should trust them. They were all on the same side after all but the nagging thought couldn't help but badger him.

"Dumbledore does," Peter shrugged.

"Yeah but," James ran a hand through his hair. "Lily's in this mission with Gideon and Meadowes and I — How do I know they'll have her back?"

"They're good people, James," Remus said softly.

"I'm not saying they aren't but how can I trust them to protect her the way I would?"

"Lily doesn't need much protecting," Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah," James breathed out, "I know but…"

"But what?"

"I guess I would've just felt better if at least one of us was with her on that mission. I can't trust them like I trust you lot."

"Arrow through the heart, Prongs," Sirius quipped. "I'm swooning!"

"We're worthy enough to protect Lily, Merlin have mercy!" Peter dramatised.

"Urgh, bugger off the lot of you. I'm just worried."

"It's okay to be worried," Remus said gently, "Just don't forget who's with us and who's against us."

James nodded.

"So you lot are going to help me move all my crap, right?"

"Can we _accio_ a whole bedroom?" Peter wondered.

* * *

 _Dear Adaline,_

 _The war is scarier than I thought it would be and what scares me most is that I think I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. There's more to come and I don't know if we can win against them. They're terrifying. They're willing to kill us, to hurt us._

 _Emmeline's in St Mungo's because Bellatrix Lestrange hit her with some sort of curse and when Fabian came he sighed in relief because, "it wasn't an unforgiveable". He sighed like she was the luckiest person alive and yet she still has to drink three potions a day for two weeks and she was unconscious for thirty hours._

 _The healers say she'll be fine, that she'll make a full recovery but it was hard coming up with a story for dad. Fabian took care of it though, told him that they'd been out flying when the curse hit her out of nowhere. Dad's more worried than ever now, he grills me every time I leave the house._

 _The Auror Training helps, I suppose. It makes me feel more prepared learning more advanced protection charms and sharpening my fighting skills. I do feel like I've gone a round with the Whomping Willow most nights I come home though. I'm dead tired and I still have the wedding to plan. Frank wants to do it as soon as possible and Mrs Longbottom is right on his train of thought. We're planning something small though — a backyard wedding. I think it's all I can handle at the moment._

 _I hope you're being safe and having a good time on your travels._

 _Love, Alice_

Adaline folded the letter and stuck it in her journal before setting about the room to pack her things away. Maybe it was stupid to set off for a country where there was a war waging. Maybe the sensible thing to have done was to keep travelling and follow her plan or maybe move in with her brother and help out with the baby. No, she knows for sure that that would be the sensible thing.

Her travels had been wonderful so far. She'd seen things she'd always imagined seeing, things she'd yearned to see when she read the letters her brothers sent to her. She saw ancient curses and Illvermony. She climbed mountains that looked over lakes and swam through water clearer than air. She visited each of her brothers, returning the favour from all the times they'd returned home to see her. She hadn't been all over the world but it was pretty damn close and now, it was time to go home.

* * *

"You know I rather thought I was done with the September first rush," her mum gushed as they all rummaged the entire house for Lily's old Charms textbook. They had decided it'd be rather stupid to have Mia purchase new textbooks when Lily's were perfectly fine.

" _Found it!_ " Mia shouted from downstairs. "It was under the couch!"

"I wonder," Rosie shook her head. "I honestly wonder. Right, well you two better be off then."

Lily and Rosie brought down Mia's trunk — well Lily levitated it but Rosie was right behind her. "Okay, so you've got everything? Ready to go?"

Mia nodded, turning to Rosie. "Thank you so much for having me this summer!"

"Nonsense, it was a pleasure having you." Rosie hugged Mia tightly. "You keep in touch, all right? And you know that you can always come back here for next summer if you'd like to."

Mia grinned. "Thank you, Rosie."

Rosie pressed a kiss to her cheek before stepping back. "You two better go or else you're going to miss the train."

"All right, I'll see you tonight mum," Lily said before grabbing Mia's hand. "Ready?"

With Mia's nod, Lily took a firm grip of her trunk and spun on the spot so they landed right on Platform nine and three quarters. Lily checked her watch. "Come on, we've got ten minutes to get your trunk on the train. Where do you wanna sit?"

They navigated around the crowd towards the train and Mia stopped at a compartment almost at the end of the train. With a flick of her wand, Lily had the trunk in the overhead and turned to Mia.

"You'll be all right this year?" Lily asked nervously. It felt odd being on the platform on this day and not be in her Hogwarts robes with her own trunk, ready to bored.

"Yes, Lily. I'll be fine."

Lily nodded. "And just be careful at school yeah? Don't go out after curfew. Don't go out of bounds. I know they always say it's not safe, but," Lily paused thinking about the boys patrolling Hogwarts, "It's really not safe in these times."

Mia smiled and pulled Lily into a hug. "I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

Lily hugged back. "Who's going to worry about you then?" Lily asked. "Make sure you write me."

"You too."

They heard a whistle being blown and Lily gave Mia one last hug. "Go on, you better get on the train."

Mia boarded the train, closing the door behind her and she waved at Lily before settling into her seat.

"Didn't expect to see you here."

Lily turned to see Mary MacDonald standing behind her with a pretty smile, her dark brown locks bouncing on her shoulders in pretty curls that most girls would die for. "Oh my God! Mary!" Lily laughed and pulled her into a hug. Mary MacDonald was a now seventh year Gryffindor and Lily wasn't surprised to see the Head Girl pin on her robes. "My successor I see!"

"Yeah, mum was over the moon. I think it was something she could actually understand. What are you doing here?"

"That's great, Mary! I'm just seeing someone off. I had Mia Scott staying with me this summer."

"Mia from fifth — well now sixth — year?"

"The very one. She's got a few family problems, couldn't go back home."

"That's terrible!"

"Yeah," and then getting an idea, "Mary, you wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her for me, would you? It's just I don't think she's got many friends in Ravenclaw. At least not any close friends and I am a little worried about her."

"I — yeah, of course. I'll make sure she's all right." Another whistle blew and Mary's eyes flickered to the train. "I better get on. First Head meeting and all."

Lily smiled, "Go on. Have a good year."

"Yeah, you too. It was nice to see you again."

Lily watched as Mary got on the train too and she watched as all the doors shut and the train started moving, wheels turning until all that was left was smoke. Lily twisted on the spot and ended up at James'.

* * *

Sirius watched as Ella walked around the flat once more. The real estate agent sat on one of the heavy wooden chairs at the wooden dining table with a bunch of papers for Sirius and Ella to sign.

"You ready, babe?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Ella turned to smile at him, "This is perfect!"

Sirius didn't know about perfect, the tap in the bathroom dripped and the paint in the second bedroom was peeling, not to mention all the crap they'd have to sift through since the old, now deceased witch who'd lived here before hadn't had any relatives to do it. He supposed it would be all right, once the crap was gone.

The flat was a decent size with the living room to the left of the corridor and the kitchen slash dining room to the right. The two rooms looked into each other with large archways which were equal in size with the same wooden trim. The living room was nice enough with a brick fireplace against ivory walls and two large windows with thick window seals sat on the far wall. The kitchen was a decent size, decent enough that it fit a six seater dining table in the middle of it and it was standard as far as kitchens went — wooden cabinets, granite bench top, oven, stove, fridge, it was all there — the fridge even had a few butterbeers in it. Down the corridor were three doors, two on the side of the kitchen leading to a bathroom and a second bedroom and one on the side of the living room leading to the master bedroom.

"Ready to sign, Mr Black and Miss Dearborn?" their realtor asked.

Sirius smiled and took the quill. He signed his name where the realtor told him to and then waited for Ella to do the same and then he grinned because he was home.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello Everybody! Welcome to Chapter 29. I must admit, this chapter and the next one there isn't a lot of action (some drama but no action) but I'm super excited for Chapter 31 and you should be too._

 _Don't be afraid to ask questions here or on my tumblr: .com_

 _As always, THANK YOU for reading and please review with your thoughts as they're always appreciated!_

 _-Natalie xx_


	31. Chapter 30: Moving-In & Making-Up

Lily stared at her own notes wracking her brain for a single semblance of a thought. She was begging for any idea to make this charm work because this charm could change the world and save lives. It could stop an epidemic.

"You're never going to think of something new by staring at what you already know."

Lily glanced up at Mulciber with a raised eyebrow. "I can try."

"You could," he agreed, "Or I could teach you how to make your charm a ball … like I showed you the other day."

"The other day?" she teased and he skulked.

"Fine, the other week."

She laughed lightly. "All right, I'm down for it. Teach me your ways!"

Francis walked her through the motions, the feeling behind it and talked her through it as she tried to slow down the speed of her spell. After several attempts Lily finally did it, stopping her spell so it formed into a ball mid air instead of hitting a target. She wasn't even embarrassed to admit that she whooped with a fist in the air when she did it.

"I did it," she exclaimed. "I actually did it."

"I told you. It's all up here," he tapped his temple with his index finger. He turned back to his own notes and Lily glanced across the room at Gideon who looked at her questioningly. She shrugged in response and explained in Headquarters later that night after he questioned her directly.

"Keep your enemies close, right?"

Gideon frowned at her. "Just remember he's a Death Eater and no matter how charming and nice he seems, you can't trust him."

"I may look like just a pretty face but let's remember who actually worked their way onto the program," Lily reminded him with jest and a nudge. "I'll be fine as long as we have each other's backs and we have each other's backs, don't we?"

"Yeah, of course," Gideon agreed and he scratched the back of his neck. "How's Lovegood going with the charm anyways?"

Lily frowned at that. "Terribly. Absolutely no progress in a month."

"Hate to say it, Evans, but that may be for the best until we can figure out a adequate plan from keeping the charm out of Mulciber's grasp. It's bad enough he knows the beginnings of it."

"I know," she said and then thinking of her thoughts from earlier in the day, "But it could save lives, stop epidemics."

"It could start epidemics and cost lives if it gets into their hands," Gideon corrected.

"I know that, too."

"Do you?"

Lily glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you shouldn't get caught up in - in the charm of it all, for a lack of better term. This charm could end the wizarding world as we know it."

"I said I know that."

"All right," he conceded.

"Oi, Evans come look at this baby photo of James!" Sirius called out.

Lily ignored Sirius and asked Gideon, "We don't have a problem, do we?"

Gideon looked at her and sipped at his drink before sighing. "No, no. It's not you I'm frustrated at. It's the mission. I thought it'd be done long before this. I never accounted," he shook his head taking another sip.

"You never accounted for the time it takes to actually form a complex charm," Lily said kindly. "You know, I can handle Mulciber and Alexina. You can quit the program, I'd still have Meadowes for back-up."

Gideon shook his head. "No, it's my mission and I need to be as close to it as possible without breaking cover. Now, go join Black teasing your boyfriend because of his baby photos."

Lily grinned. "Don't tell him I said this, but he was adorable."

"Adorable and grew up hot, too. Some people have all the luck. Go on," he urged. "I'm going to go find Em and Fab."

Lily joined Sirius in teasing James as they too drank firewhiskey out of plastic cups joining in on the small party that seemed to happen after most large meetings. Lily suspected James orchestrated it because Sprinkle was always offering drinks and cooking up a storm during the meetings, alluring everyone to stay longer than necessary and mingle.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing," Remus commented when Lily brought up her suspicions.

"I never said it was just that James Potter just can't resist socialising in the form of a party."

"Even if it is James' excuse for just another party, I think it's good. It'll help us get to know each other, trust each other."

Lily smiled, "I suppose this lot could all use a little more trust in the group. We don't really know much about anyone, do we?"

"Except Alice's sister and the Prewett brothers, no," Remus agreed.

Lily held up her cup for a cheers, "To trust." Remus met her cup with his and said, "To trust," as James flung an arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Hello, love," he grinned at her, pressing a kiss to her cheek and she laughed unashamedly.

"Hello," she greeted back, turning her head to kiss his lips chastely. "All right, Potter?" she asked.

"Mmmhmm." James hugged her, resting his chin on her head and she patted his arm recognising the sleepy stage of Drunk James.

"All right, time to get you home, I think."

After a round of goodbyes to everyone Lily and James left through the front door and they walked, arms looped together to the alley and Lily popped them off to Seaside Estate.

* * *

A pile of boxes sat in the middle of the living room and Sirius and Ella stood in the hallway. It was smaller than Sirius was use to and it was smaller than Ella was use to. Both born into prominent pure blood families, they were used to sprawling mansions in the country side and elaborate multi-story apartments in the city. Now, they stood in a small — by their standards — two bedroom flat with nothing more than a kitchen, living-room and bathroom. It was both terrifying and exciting.

James followed Lily into the flat both holding a box each. "You know, for two people you guys have a lot of crap," James huffed.

"Yeah I think I packed some of your stuff," Sirius admitted.

"I may have stolen Doc's toaster."

"His toaster?" Lily snorted as she added her box to the pile.

"It's the best toaster ever."

"Now that all the boxes are up and in the apartment, Lily and I are going to leave you guys to unpack."

"Awe come on, you're just gonna leave us with all these boxes?" Sirius asked, self pity seeping into every syllable.

Lily and James glanced at each other, communicating with their eyes before both turning back to Sirius and Ella and saying, "Yep."

Ella laughed, "Go on. Enjoy the day. It's probably one of the last nice ones before autumn really kicks in."

Lily kissed Ella's cheek and then Sirius', "Enjoy unpacking!"

Then they apparated out right from the apartment.

"Rude," Sirius remarked. "Just apparating out of someone's house like that."

Ella patted his cheek, "Come on, these boxes aren't going to unpack themselves and Marlene said she'll stop by with lunch and some groceries for us on her break."

"Ella … I'm thinking of a plan."

"Oh Merlin."

"It's a good plan. Brilliant even."

"Double Merlin."

"You see Marlene is the mother hen type and she likes all this unpacking stuff and for whatever reason, it brings her joy so, why don't we just leave the boxes and then Marlene will take charge and do them."

"Look I get the thought process here but this is _Marlene_ we're talking about. Marlene who loves assigning jobs in a situation where she has to take charge. Marlene who will delegate the nastier jobs to others so she doesn't have to but she still gets the credit because she was the one who took charge. So your good, brilliant plan is actually quite shit."

Sirius skulked and Ella laughed patting him on the cheek. "Come on, lazy bones." But as she turned to start on a box an owl pecked at the window and she sighed as Sirius went to open the window.

"Does anyone even know we've moved yet?" Her office did. Sirius tried to take the letter off the owl but it nipped his fingers and flew to Ella. She quickly unattached the letter from the owl's leg and it flew off. Not a good sign. "What's that?" Sirius asked as she opened it.

"Work." She quickly read the letter and groaned. "They want me to come in. Something about a last minute meeting with the Norwegian Head of Defence."

"It's moving day," Sirius said quietly. Ella kissed him softly.

"I know, but they wouldn't owl if it's not important. I'll bring dinner on the way back and don't worry about unpacking, we'll do it tomorrow."

She grabbed her handbag and used her wand to transfigure her outfit into something more work appropriate. "I'll see you tonight," she promised and kissed his cheek.

With a flick of her wand, she apparated out just like James and Lily.

Sirius ignored her request of not worrying about the boxes. He was alone in the apartment for what looked like was going to be hours and nothing was unpacked. There was nothing else to do, so he started with the furniture they'd either bought or taken from Seaside Estate and Headquarters. He re-enlarged all of it and arranged it, deciding that Ella could change it later if she wanted then he moved on to clothes, using magic to hang them up in the closet and it was in the middle of this task when there was a knock on the door.

"Ella? Sirius? It's Marlene!"

"Door's open, Marls!" Sirius shouted. "In the bedroom!"

The door opened and she was a few minutes before she entered the bedroom in her lime green, healer robes. Sirius hadn't seen her in her uniform before and somehow it looked like her natural state. Her stringy blonde hair up in a ponytail, famous pink scrunchie to accompany it and her blue eyes never seemed more calming and kind.

"What?" Marlene asked.

Sirius shook his head, turning away. "Nothing. Uniform suits you."

"Oh, well, thanks, I guess. Where's Ella?"

"Had to go into work."

"Oh … the living room looks good."

"Yeah, I unpacked that first. The spare couches from Headquarters really suit the place."

"James and Lil didn't stick around?"

Sirius shook his head. "James has the day off training, Lily's sister is visiting and she's trying to avoid her house as much as possible so they're taking a day together."

Marlene sat down on the edge of the bed. "That's nice. I wish Nate and I could take a day but I've got twelve hour shifts and when I'm not working or studying he's at Mr Ollivander's."

"Sucks when work gets in the way."

Marlene leaned forward. "What about you? Anything coming up in the work department?"

Sirius shook his head, "I don't really need to work and the one thing I wanted to do, they won't accept me because of who my family is."

"Never thought a pure-blood would ever get denied something."

"They do when it's a conflict of interest."

"It still sucks. I think we were just so protected at Hogwarts that it was such a shock to come into this world and discover this is what it's actually like."

"And what's it like?"

Marlene sighed. "The real world, it's cruel with no mediators. No one to step in and say 'no, that isn't fair'. In this world only you can stand up for you."

Sirius turned to her, "Everything all right at work?"

"Mostly. A few students in my class are entitled pure-bloods," she shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle."

"Well," Sirius paused, "If you can't … Just say the word and, I'll…"

"Sirius Black, are you offering to beat someone up for me?" she asked, with a hint of a grin on her lips.

"Multiple someone's actually."

She stood up and punched his shoulder softly. "You act all hard and tough but really you're just a big softie, aren't you?"

"Pfft, no."

Marlene smiled. "I'm sure. Now, where are you up to in the unpacking stage. I've got a half hour left in my break."

"I'm going to be really honest with you, I've never had to cook a day in my life so it'd be great if you could tackle the kitchen."

Marlene laughed. "I'm on it."

Magic was an amazing thing really because something that should've taken Marlene the half a day, only took her half an hour and Sirius could have hugged her. Instead he said, "Remind me to shout you a drink next time we're out."

Marlene picked up her handbag and said, "Will do," before she too popped out of the apartment.

By six o'clock Sirius had everything unpacked. Books were on the bookshelf, clothes were in the closet and a clock was on the wall. With not much else to do, Sirius settled in with a book he'd been meaning to read until a patronus ran into the room. It was a fox and from it Fabian Prewett's voice spoke.

"Gideon Prewett captured. Headquarters ASAP."

Sirius jumped up, throwing the book onto the couch he'd just been on. He hurtled to the bedroom, changing into jeans and a t-shirt.

"Sirius?" Ella called as the front door opened. "We really should put a wizarding lock on this door! Anyone can just come bursting through — where are you going?" she frowned as Sirius left the bedroom, wand tucked behind his ear.

"Headquarters. They need me for a mission."

"Oh — well maybe I should come too?"

"Did you get the patronus?"

"No."

"Then they don't need you."

"Sirius-"

"I gotta go," and he popped out just as easily as she had.

* * *

Emmeline was freaking out and there wasn't anything Alice could do.

"You need to stay in bed!" Alice insisted, her hand on Emmeline's shoulder to keep her from moving. "The healer's say you shouldn't be exhausting yourself."

"Alice! He's my — he's my best friend! I have to go and Fab, Fab is going to go after him and I have to go too! It's always been us three against," Emmeline pushed a hand through her hair, "You have to let me go."

"No — no! Absolutely not," Alice hissed. "I will go to Headquarters and I'll make sure that they get Gideon back but you will stay in this bed, do you hear me?"

"Al, please — !"

"You need to get better. I'm going to go and I'll send a patronus as soon as I know what's going on."

Alice turned to the door only to stop. "Della?" she asked surprised because Adaline Bennett was standing in the doorway when she should be half way across the world.

Adaline held up a piece of parchment. "I got your letter." Alice looked at Adaline. Her hair was shorter, her skin a little more tanned and a trunk was by her feet.

"Did you — you came straight here?"

"I went to your place first," Adaline explained and Alice shook her head before running up to Adaline and hugging her tightly.

"I'm so happy you're back," she whispered, with a smile. "There's so much to catch you up on but I need you to stay with Em. Can you do that?"

Adaline frowned slightly, "Yeah, of course I can — where are you going?"

Alice patted her pockets for her wand and groaned when it wasn't in either of her pockets. "Em, can you explain please? I can't find my bleeding wand!" Alice searched under blankets and jackets on chairs until she found it hiding on the food tray a witch had brought up earlier. "All right. I'm going."

"Don't forget to send me a patronus!"

Alice left the room and had to hold in her tears. They kidnapped Gideon. She hadn't wrapped her head around that, didn't know if she could. They kidnapped a person and it was so easy for them to do it. They just blasted through the Prewett brothers' front door and took him. It was the craziest thought to pop into someone's mind at a time like this but all Alice could think was 'What if he had an appointment?' It was absolutely absurd, an insane, inane thought. Something so ridiculous that it made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

She arrived at Headquarters to find Fabian Prewett in the dining room with James, Sirius and Lily and a witch Alice had seen around but hadn't actually met. Alice walked right over to Fabian and gave him a hug and said, "From Em. She's freaking out."

Alice didn't mention that she thought he needed it. She had known Fabian and Gideon Prewett since she was eight years old, though one could argue to see one was to see the other, she had never seen either of them look as worried and — to her shock — scared. They'd always been so laissez-faire type attitude — winging it and not caring much about the rules. James and Sirius reminded her of them and the closest thing Alice could compare the look on Fabian's face to was when Lily was attacked by Brown.

Fabian squeezed her tight before pulling back, "She's not thinking of doing anything stupid, is she?"

"She was," Alice admitted, "But I left her with a babysitter. Della's back."

Lily perked, "Della's back? Since when?"

"Just surprised the hell out of me. She doesn't really know what's going on yet. I don't even really know what's going on yet."

"Malfoy took him," Fabian said. "We're organising a mission to search Malfoy Manor. We're trying to decide on a team. No more than four people."

"And Evans and I should be two of them," the other witch spoke up. "It's our mission!"

"That's why you can't go," James piped up. "Gideon's cover is obviously blown but yours and Lily's isn't. You need to keep your cover and that's not going to be possible if they see you breaking Gideon out of their dungeon."

"He's right," Fabian agreed.

"Okay, I'll go," Alice volunteered.

"Al, your sister will kill me after the last time."

"Don't give me that, Fab. It's Gideon. Of course I'm going to go. I've known the both of you since I was eight."

"We're in," Sirius said, gesturing to James and himself. "And that makes four."

"James, it should be me," Lily shook her head.

"You'll blow your cover. It's all right," he kissed her forehead. "I'll be fine."

"All right then, let's make a plan," Sirius clapped his hands together. "Like how the hell we're going to get in there in the first place."

"We defer to you, Black," Fabian said, "Your cousin's engaged to Malfoy."

"Sirius doesn't speak to _that_ family anymore," Lily said firmly. "What about house elves?"

"House elves?" Alice questioned.

"Yeah, I mean, a place like that is bound to have similar anti-apparation jinxes like Hogwarts and Seaside Estate and like, well, Headquarters but house elves still apparate around all those places and between the five pure-bloods here I'm sure there's a house elf available to help."

"That's actually kind of brilliant," Sirius admitted and Lily shrugged.

* * *

They popped into a cold, drafty room and it was dark. The air was stale and seemed to almost sting on the way down. James sniffed his nose and said, " _Lumos_."

His wand lit up to see that the dungeon, for that's what it was, was empty. James shook his head at the room, disappointed and mad that the Malfoys didn't see anything wrong with having a room like this in their home. The door was made of iron bars and there were limp chains hanging off the walls, an empty lantern lay broken on the floor.

"He's not here," Fabian hissed, his eyes darting about the place as though Gideon could have been hiding in plain sight.

"They could have him in another —"

Suddenly, a yell from upstairs and the four of them looked at each other. The yell was from Gideon. It had to be and it sounded, it sounded like he was being tortured. Another scream of pain and James was sure, a queasiness in his stomach.

"We didn't — we didn't plan for this," Alice murmured, wincing as they heard yet another scream.

"Lucky you're with us," Sirius muttered, "James and I are kings of winging it."

"Right," James agreed. This didn't need to be any different than creating a diversion for Filch. "We need a diversion."

"I say we draw them out to one of the rooms on a higher level," Sirius proposed, "Then Alice and Fab, you get Gideon."

"What kind of diversion? Maybe we should get back-up."

"Back-up not needed," James assured Alice. "We'll sneak back here and be well off the second level by the time the diversion happens. We'll go up, you two find the room they're keeping Gideon in, hide until the diversion happens then, in-and-out. We meet back here and Twinky will apparate us out."

"I don't think Twinky should wait on his own," Sirius frowned. "Twinky, you'll go with Fabian and Alice. If you find Gideon but can't get back to here … apparate out. I'm pretty sure I know a way out from when I was a kid."

"All right," Fabian agreed. "Let's do it."

"Cloak?" Sirius muttered, as they climbed the stairs out of the dungeon.

James pulled the cloak out of his pocket for the first time since school ended and as they reached the top and threw it on top of the both of them. Sirius, having been in the house once or twice before, guided them to a main staircase that led them up to a second level.

"How sure is 'pretty sure'?" James asked.

"Seventy-eight percent sure," Sirius said firmly. They'd had worse odds before.

The house was different from Seaside Estate, a bad different. Malfoy Manor was all stone and marble with cool green decor and stuffy portraits of ancestors. It felt so cold and empty. James knew Seaside was large but he'd never felt that it was empty.

Sirius led them into a drawing room. "This should do."

Another yell that seemed to last an eternity. "Time the explosions for two minutes," James ordered, pulling the cloak off of both of them. "We have to hurry."

The drawing room was large and James and Sirius wasted no time in tapping their wands to objects so they pulsed lightly with a white glow. James tapped his wand to a black book set upon a side table and frowned when it didn't start glowing. Intrigued he picked it up and flicked through it. It was empty. With no time to wonder about it now, James shoved the book in his pocket and tapped the table instead and nodded satisfactorily when it glowed.

"I think that's enough," Sirius said. "The room will be smoke once all these go off. I got a few books and the desk over there."

James nodded. "I got the whole bookshelf and the tables around the couches."

"Let's get out of here before we're smoke too."

James didn't need telling twice and threw the cloak over them once more.

* * *

Alice and Fabian crept out of the dungeon with Twinky following them after James and Sirius and followed the sounds of Gideon's screams.

"Bloody bastards," Fabian cursed.

"Shh," Alice hushed trying to hear what was actually being said.

"I'll ask you once more." Alice couldn't recognise the voice. "Is Lily Evans involved with the Order of the Phoenix?"

"I've already told you no a dozen fucking ti —" the rest of his sentence morphed into a groan as though trying to hold in a scream.

"Tell us the truth! _Crucio_!" More groaning. "Spit it out then!"

"Fuck you!"

" _Crucio_ ," his torturer said, bored.

Alice wanted to block her ears, didn't want to hear the latent lack of humanity in someone's voice, didn't want to hear the screams and groans of pain. She couldn't fathom how someone could be so cruel.

They followed down a wide set corridor, the screams and voices getting clearer and louder as they made their way down.

"Hold on, Gid," she whispered.

"They could hurry up with their bloody diversion," Fab hissed. "How do we know if it's started?"

Alice glanced at Fabian. "Trust me, we'll know. Those boys and subtlety don't really mix."

They approached a room, and it was the room for Gideon was in it, tied to a chair with Francis Mulciber pointing his wand at him. Lucius Malfoy sat on the couch biting into a green apple as though this were just another day at Malfoy Manor, his ears immune to the sounds of pain coming out of the tortured man and Alice felt it. In that moment, she'd be lying if she said the thought of wanting them dead hadn't crossed her mind because it did, as loud and clear as Gideon's pain. _I wish they were dead_.

"They'll see us if they leave the room," Fabian said, looking around. "Here," he rushed over to some curtains, dragging Alice and Twinky with him and they hid behind the heavy curtains until — boom! BOOM!

Alice covered her ears at the loud explosions that followed and nodded at Fabian. This was their cue.

"What the hell is that?" they could hear Malfoy shout. Alice did a quick spell on the curtain so they could see out but no-one could see in. She watched as Malfoy and Mulciber ran out of the room, leaving Gideon alone.

"Thank Merlin," Alice sighed. "Twinky, wait in the hall, let us know if they come back."

"Yes, Miss Alice."

Alice and Fabian run across into the room, wands out.

"Gid, Gid, it's me," Fabian said, as he started cutting the chains around his wrists. "You gotta wake up. We only have a few minutes."

Alice crouched on the floor and worked the chains off his ankles.

"Fabian?" Gideon asked groggily.

"Yes, and Alice." Fabian heaved Gideon out of the chair and he coughed badly. "Al, get his other side. He's like jelly."

Alice complied and wrapped Gideon's arm around her shoulders, together they hauled Gideon out of the room and with Twinky leading the way, back down the corridor towards the dungeon.

"No — no not back there," Gideon groaned.

"Shh, shh, all part of the plan," Alice assured.

"Here, we're here," and James and Sirius appeared literally out of nowhere and Alice, sue her, yelped.

Sirius smirked and she rolled her eyes. "Let's get out of here." Alice held hands with Twinky who held hands with James who held hands with Sirius. "Whenever you're ready, Twinky, back to Headquarters."

Twinky looked at James who nodded and with a crack they were standing in the kitchen of Headquarters.

* * *

Lily paced the dining room for what seemed like an age and the fact that Meadowes opted to sit in quiet demeanour didn't help Lily's stress levels. They should be doing something. This was so stupid, it was their mission and Lily, she was the one in the most dangerous position. She should've been the one kidnapped. Not Gideon. It was maddening.

"Would you stop pacing?" Meadowes snapped.

Lily frowned, apparently her pacing hadn't helped Meadowes stress levels. "I'm sorry. I just can't sit still. I need to be, I don't know, doing something."

"There's nothing to do but wait." She didn't say anything else for a few minutes and then, "How long have you and Potter been together?"

"A year this November."

Meadowes smiled softly. "That's nice."

"Are you married?" Lily asked, her eyes finding the gold band that shone on her finger.

"I was," her smile faded, "He died a year ago. Death Eaters."

"Oh, I'm so sorry … had you two been together long?"

"Seven years. It was the summer just after graduation. He worked in a muggle cafe and I used to go there just to see him." Dorcas seemed lost in her thoughts for a moment. "He was writing a book on the muggle experience and they killed him for it."

Lily was about to apologise once more when a loud crack sounded from the kitchen. Lily and Dorcas glanced at each other before rushing out of the dining room.

Just as Lily stepped off the last step into the kitchen, Alice keeled over the kitchen sink and vomited as Sirius helped Fabian get Gideon to lie down on the kitchen table. James stood on stand-by and Lily sighed in relief to see him intact.

"James," she breathed, rushing over to hug him tightly. "Are you okay?"`

He hugged her back just as tightly. "I'm fine, love."

"Al, you all right?" she asked, pulling back from James.

Alice stuck her thumb out for Lily to see and maybe Lily would've laughed if Gideon weren't passed out on the table.

"They were going pretty hard on him," Sirius said. "Maybe we should get Marlene over."

"It's the cruciatus," Fabian shook his head. "I'll get him up to a bed. He'll be out of action for a few days." Fabian looked at Lily when he said this.

"I'll be fine. I think Mulciber is warming up to me."

Alice pulled away from the sink. "He was trying to figure out if you were in the Order."

Lily frowned. "So he still doesn't know?"

"No, Gideon kept your cover."

"Okay," Lily said, "Okay, good." James wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, kissing her temple. "How'd you guys get in and out?"

James and Sirius quickly relayed the story, "Blew up a good chunk of their dark arts section, I reckon," Sirius finished.

"Your plan was good," Dorcas complimented James and Sirius. "In and out in under an hour and without being made. I'll put in a good word with Moody. He usually organises the more _delicate_ missions so to speak and if this was any indication, you two are good at that sort of stuff."

"I don't know how to respond to that," Sirius said.

"Just say 'thank you', Sirius," Lily chuckled.

"Thank you."

Meadowes pursed her lips, affronted at the odd encounter and unsure how to take him before nodding. "I'll see you at work, Evans."

Lily bid her goodbye and Meadowes helped Fabian get Gideon up to a bedroom before they heard the front door open and close.

"I better go tell Emmeline that Gid's all right. I'll catch you later," Alice bid the other goodbye and she bent down to kiss Twinky on the cheek to thank him for his help.

"And then it was three," Sirius muttered.

"Why didn't Ella come?" Lily asked, sitting on the dining table.

Sirius scowled. "She just got home from work."

"Work? Weren't you two unpacking today?" James asked, sitting between Lily's legs on the bench.

"Yes, well that's what I thought was on the agenda as well until she up and left for work. She got back just as I was about to leave for here. I, suppose I better get back."

Sirius left too and then it was just two.

"They seem okay to you?" James asked her.

Lily shrugged. "It's for them to sort out. Us on the other hand are very late for a dinner with my mother and sister."

"Shit."

* * *

James decided, after weeks of receiving the silent treatment from his mother, it was finally time to talk with her. As childish as it sounded, he missed his mum and there was something he was dying to ask her that had nothing to do with the Order of the Phoenix and it wasn't only that. If the whole Gideon-being-kidnapped thing had taught him anything, it was that life was very short and his fate wasn't his own. He didn't control it, he couldn't mould it with his own hands and he, for the first time, really understood that being in the Order of the Phoenix could cost him his life. He wouldn't know when or how but one day he could be taken or murdered and if it was tomorrow, he'd want things to be right today.

Also Christmas was coming up and he knew his decorating duties would be a lot worse if he didn't try to mend fences with her. Though that was a very, very, very small part of the reason and he would admit it to no one. James didn't have to see the boxes of decorations the house elves were taking out of the basement and piling in the ballroom to be scared.

So that's what he was doing.

He found her one afternoon in the library reading and he sat on the floor in front of her, leaning his elbow on his propped up knee.

"Mum," he said but Euphemia did not look up from her book. "I know you're upset with me for joining and I understand but I miss you so could you maybe be disappointed in me and still talk to me because I'd really like my mum back."

Euphemia looked at her son and sighed. "I'm not disappointed in you. I'm scared for you. I was young when Grindlewald had his reign of terror and I never wanted that to be a life for you. I never wanted you to be in the thick of things."

James almost snorted. He was always in the thick of things. "Luckily, I'm a keep-my-head-down kind of guy."

Euphemia did snort. "Luckily, I'm not stubborn."

"I'm sorry," James offered.

Euphemia put her book down beside her and leaned forward. "Don't ever be sorry for trying to make the world a better place."

"Even if you don't like it?" James asked.

"Even if I don't like it," she confirmed. "I love you no matter what. Just," she studied his face tenderly and brushed his hair to the side, "Be careful."

James nodded with a sly smile until his mum asked, "Now what have you been stalking me around the house for for the last five days? It can't just be because Sirius is gone because he said you've been jittery."

James gaped. "You're talking with Sirius! Before me!"

Euphemia shrugged, "He didn't inherit my stubbornness it seems. Cornered me the night before he moved out and blubbed a little."

"He did not cry," James said in disbelief.

"He did and we talked but this is about you. What's the matter?"

"Lily," James blurted and his mother smiled like she knew this day would one day come.

"When?"

"Soon," James admitted. "After Alice and Frank's wedding."

He expected his mum to go on a spiel about how they were too young and how there was no harm in waiting. He thought she'd try to talk him into waiting for another year but at the same time, he wasn't surprised when his mum said, cool as a cucumber:

"Don't want to steal their thunder," Euphemia agreed. "My boy's all grown up."

"I'll always be your boy, mum."

"You'll be my boy but you'll be her man. Now, dear, when you do it you make sure you get down on one knee and you tell her that she's the best thing that ever happened to you."

"Are you actually giving me proposal advice?" James wrinkled his nose.

"Yes, I don't know why you're not taking notes. You tell her that you love her more than life itself and you say that you wouldn't care where and when and what happens, you want to spend the rest of your life with her. Then you say, like the gentleman I raised you to be, 'Lily Evans, will you marry me?' And when she says yes, you slide the ring on, I assume you've taken good care of the ring her father gave you."

James gaped, "How did you even know about that?"

Euphemia laughed. "You're terrible at hiding things — like that motorbike that was up in the attic for weeks. Anyway, you slide the ring on her finger and you stand up and kiss her but make sure it's slow and sweet and —"

"Okay — nope, enough. No more advice needed," James held his hands up, "I'm good on the kissing part mum, in fact it's just weird talking to you about this."

Euphemia considered this, "Would it be better if I told Sirius and then he told you?"

"Maybe."

* * *

The five of them sat in a circle on Alice's bed, it was their last slumber party before Alice got married slash a welcome back thing for Adaline. Things were changing faster than any of them cared to admit and it felt nice for them in this moment to pretend that it was just another slumber party during the holidays — they'd always chosen Alice's house because she had the biggest bed. A well of lollies and sweets — Honeyduke's finest — sat in the middle of the circle and the girls carelessly dipped into it as they talked and laughed.

"Mrs Longbottom has given us her father's townhouse in London," Alice told them. "We'll be a stone throw away from the Ministry."

"She gave you a house?" Marlene's jaw dropped.

"Gave us the deed," Alice confirmed. "It'll need some re-decorating. No one's lived in it for years since Frank's nana passed away. What about you and Nate, Marls? Planning to move out anytime soon?"

Marlene shook her head. "God, no. We already live next door to each other and maybe once I become a fully certified healer we'll re-visit the decision but neither of us make nearly enough to handle an apartment in London. If anyone should be moving in together, it's Lily and James."

Lily shook her head. "I can't leave mum on her own besides, James is, well, he's very traditional about that sort of thing."

Ella quirked a brow, "Traditional? Honey, we both know you two aren't waiting til' marriage."

"I said traditional not old fashioned," she said exasperated. "He wants to wait until we're at least engaged before we move in together and, I really don't want to leave mum on her own yet. I just feel like Petunia's out of the house and this is just my time with mum. I like it."

"I get it," Marlene said quietly, "Henry and I, when we used to get homesick in the beginning years we used to be jealous of Charlie because he always got mum and dad to himself when we were gone for the year."

"Yeah," Lily agreed. "Petunia was always jealous of me and she always assumed that I had nothing to be jealous of her about but I was."

"You just weren't a complete bitch about it," Adaline added and Lily cracked a smile. "So you two are thinking of getting hitched like Al?"

Lily bit into her chocolate and shook her head. "No, no, but when Sirius and Ella decided to move in we had a talk and he just mentioned that he would like to be engaged before we moved in together."

"Hmm, how is that going by the way? Living with Sirius Black," Alice asked Ella.

"It's good, great even."

"Uh-oh, I sense a but," Adaline prodded.

"No, it's stupid."

"Come on, Ella."

"I just, I wish he was a bit more supportive of my job."

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "He has a problem with you working?"

"No. He has a problem with Crouch. Doesn't like him. Doesn't understand why I want to work with him and why I — his words — jump through hoops for him."

"James was like that a little when I couldn't tell him about the project I was working on. Confidential and all."

"What'd you do?"

"Well, we talked and James stopped pushing me to tell him."

Ella laughed, "You make it sound easy."

"It's not," Alice muttered and the girls all turned to her. "Is it weird that I still haven't told Frank about the Order?"

"Maybe a little," Adaline admitted and then put her hands up in defence when they all glared at her, "Don't look at me like that. I've already told you that he'll probably be mad that you didn't tell him but he'll get over it and then he'd probably join."

"Just tell him when you're ready," Lily advised.

"Or before you move in together. It's going to be kind of hard to keep a secret when a patronus bursts into your living room," Marlene pointed out.

"You're right," Alice agreed. "You're absolutely right. I'm going to tell him tomorrow."

"Woah, that's fast," Lily remarked.

"Yeah, so she doesn't change her mind," Adaline smirked and Alice threw a liquorice wand at her.

"No, I just think it's time. It was so awkward and hard not telling him the real reason why Em was in hospital and I don't want to start our marriage with this huge secret between us."

Since most of their relationship problems were out of the way, they moved onto work stories and in Adaline's case, travelling stories and they brought out the bottle of firewhiskey because what's a sleepover without a bottle of alcohol to pass around. The five of them drifted off at some time around three in the morning, each of them waking up with god awful headaches in the morning but it was a night they'd forever remember as one of the happier times in their lives.

* * *

Alice's day started out doomed. She woke up twenty minutes late meaning she was twenty minutes late for her class on the Dark Arts 101 which was taught by none other than Alastor Moody, which in Alice's opinion was just so unfortunate. She could have been late any other day, like when Kingsley Shacklebolt taught Concealment and Deception or when the flirtatious, Demi Verne taught Defence 101. She literally could have had any other class and she would've gotten off with nothing else than a stern look as she entered the lecture hall. But she had Dark Arts 101 with Alastor bloody Moody.

The last name fit him well, maybe too well in Alice's opinion. He was tall and brooding with ominous scars shrouding his face and perhaps before this life, Alice may have considered him handsome. Alice never saw him in anything other than the standard black Auror robes, which had clipped sleeves at the wrists and gold fastenings that held the robes tighter than normal robes. But the one thing that Alice thought about when she thought of Alastor Moody was, "Constant vigilance!" A phrase he was shouting as she tried to slink into the lecture hall undetected but, clearly she wasn't paying enough attention in Kingsley's class.

"Miss Vance!" Moody barked. "I hope being late is worth your life! What if I covered something that you face one day and you die because you missed the first twenty-three minutes of class?"

Alice gulped, "I'll catch up, sir. I'm sorry it won't happen again."

Most teachers would have left it at that, not Moody though. He called her back after class and properly berated her for tardiness and lectured her for exactly twenty-three minutes on all the content she'd missed and maybe she would have been grateful for the catch-up if it literally wasn't being barked at her as though she'd set his puppy on fire but he still had to teach her.

Escaping Moody's wrath, Alice popped into Diagon Alley to rush her Christmas shopping because with everything else going on, today was her last chance if she wanted to buy gifts for Frank, Emmeline and her friends. Christmas shopping, also, somehow, ran late after a fight with a shop clerk about something that was on display but not for sale because that bag would be perfect for Emmeline so Alice fought with the old hag before finally winning except now she was running extremely late.

Alice rushed to the hospital because Emmeline, lo and behold, was finally being released from the hospital right before Christmas— except, she was late because today apparently was the day of being late. After being redirected to about half a dozen different people, lugging all her shopping with her as she went, "She's already been discharged," lucky person number seven finally informed her at the nurse's station on Emmeline's floor and Alice could've cried.

"No, no, I was supposed to pick her up," Alice insisted.

"Yes but-"

"It's okay, Darla, I got this," Marlene appeared, clipboard in hand and with a nasty stain on her lime green robes that looked like — "Yes, it's vomit now stop staring at it and stop making that scrunched up face! You're not the one wearing it."

Alice straightened her face out and asked about Emmeline. Again.

"The healers owled your dad when you didn't show. They left five minutes ago."

"Fucking brilliant," Alice muttered.

"What kept you?"

"I was late to class so Moody kept me back."

"Good to see I'm not the only one having a not so great day," Marlene mused and Alice scrunched her face again at the vomit.

"Dare I ask?"

"A seven year old boy with a vomiting bug because his older brother found him annoying and used his mum's wand to jinx him."

"What incantation did he know?"

Marlene stiffled a laugh, "Apparently the exact words were, ' _vomit vomit vomit_ '."

"Original," Alice commented.

"Very. Are you still talking to Frank tonight?"

"Yea—"

"Patient coming through!" someone shouted but before Alice could even step aside a bed was rushing past her with a boy spewing over the side and all over Alice's new robes and shoes.

"Sorry," the boy said miserably before he was wheeled off in a rush as quickly as he'd come.

Alice grimaced at Marlene, "What was that about me not being the one to wear it?"

"I've got spare robes in my locker," Marlene offered.

The spare robes turned out to be the lime green healer uniform robes and Alice grudgingly put them on with no other option unless she wanted to go about with puke stained robes. The problem with these robes as she made her way down to her lobby, everyone assumed she was a healer.

"Healer Murphy needs assistance in room two-twenty-seven."

"I'm not a healer!"

"Why you wearing god damned healer robes then?"

If that incident weren't bad enough, Alice thought she'd be safe on an elevator but no, a labouring mum and her panicked husband walked in. The husband looked positively furious as the wife screeched in pain, clutching her stomach.

"Are you sure you want to be leaving?" Alice asked as she noticed they didn't press any other buttons and the lobby was the only one lit.

"This is all your fault! My wife's in pain but you people have sent her home until her water's break! Don't they realise she's in pain!?"

"Uh, sir, I'm not a healer but I'm sure they're just doing their job."

"Humph! None of you are healers it seems like! What's the point of having you lot if you're just going to send us home! Uneducated, selfish bastards the lot of you."

Alice quirked an eyebrow. "Sir, perhaps if you paid more attention to your wife instead of cursing healers who are here to help and probably have more education than you do in the area of healing."

"How dare you! First they send my heavily pregnant and contracting wife home because there aren't enough _beds_! And now you disrespect me! I'll sue this whole goddamn hospital!"

Alice had to listen to his sordid rant all the way down to the lobby and as she walked out she heard him say to the receptionist, "I want to lodge a complaint about that healer on the elevator! Completely unhelpful and rude!" His complaints faded as she stepped out onto the street.

She turned around only to bump right into someone who was holding a drink, a drink which had no option but to spill down Alice's robes. She gritted her teeth at the unknowing muggle.

"I'm so sorry! You kind of came out of nowhere."

Alice smiled ironically, "Kind of like magic, you could say." She turned around and walked off into the alley that was the designated spot to apparate to for St Mungo's only to find a bunch of maintenance wizards.

"We're re-charming, you can floo from inside the hospital," the wizard told her.

"My house isn't connecting to the floo network," Alice said. It truly was the bane of her existence. They were a magical family that wasn't connected to the floo network. They may as well go live in a cave had always been Alice's argument against her parents and Alice had never resonated with that more.

"Knight Bus then." And even more.

"I don't have time for the bus. Please, can I just apparate?"

"Look, lady, no one's allowed to apparate or disapparate from this spot until the new charms go up or you could be looking at a violation of the _Magic Protection Act_."

"Oh, buggering, perfect," Alice muttered. "Just perfect."

The wizard apologised and suggested the bus again and with no other option Alice walked two blocks to a quiet street and stuck her wand out onto the street. A few moments later, the big purple bus, that Alice detested ever since she went flying over the railing of the second floor and bounced due to a bout of accidental magic across the ground floor for five minutes as the bus kept speeding on when she was five, appeared. Alice paid no less than five sickles — five sickles she could have saved if she were just allowed to apparate — to get to her house in Falmouth.

Alice didn't bother with the unsecured seats and instead held on for dear life on the railing. She checked her watch and cursed. This day could not get any worse. She was going to be late for Frank — as if she needed to be late for anything else today — and she really didn't want to be late. Not for this. She was going to tell Frank about the Order and she wanted things to go smoothly. It seemed fate had other plans though when the bus pulled up in front of her house at a quarter to seven and she was so very, very late.

"Emmeline! Dad!" she called, shrugging out of the drink soaked healer robes as she walked in the door.

Emmeline came out of the drawing room and scrunched up her nose, "You know, lime green really doesn't suit you."

"Yeah, thanks," Alice said. "You know you could've saved me a lot of time by sending a patronus, 'Dad picked me up. At home'."

"And you could've saved me a lot of time by being on time," Emmeline fired back. "Could've saved dad from having to step out at work. What happened?"

"Oh, apparently just the worse day to ever exist. Look, are you okay to be home alone? Frank and I are supposed to meet up like half an hour ago and apparently today is the day for being late because I still have to get changed. I have been vomited on and I have had drink spilled on my robes. I need a shower."

Emmeline bit her lips. "Yeah, go on. Fab's coming over right about now anyways. Frank coming here?"

"No, we're meeting at the house. We're supposed to be arranging some furniture today, trying to unpack as much as possible so when we get back we don't have to do much."

"All right, well go have a shower. I'll get Minx to make me some dinner," and just as the words left Emmeline's mouth, their house elf Minx walked into the room.

"What is Mistress Emmy wanting?"

"Why don't we go see what's in the fridge, Minx."

Alice ran up the stairs, using magic to help her have the quickest shower of her life, using her wand to instantaneously dry her hair — something she hated doing but she could hear her mum's voice, _don't go outside with wet hair, you'll get a cold_! It almost made her smile that little memory, seemingly insignificant but Alice held onto it.

She walked into their house. Alice smiled at that. _Their house_.

"Frank!" she shouted, shrugging off her cloak and turning to hang it on a coat stand only to realise there wasn't one. She frowned. "Frank, we really need a cloak stand or some hooks on the wall by the door!"

"Al?" she heard a faint shout from upstairs. "Is that you? I was starting to get worried!"

"I know. I'm late!" she started climbing the stairs, "Why're you up here for?"

"The furniture place sent all the furniture today instead of just the drawing room stuff."

"Wonderful," Alice mused as she leaned against the door to what would be their bedroom. "You did a good job," she said, looking around. A four poster bed was pushed against the farthest wall with their wardrobe opposite, a dressing table with a dainty chair was next to the ensuite door.

Frank came over to her and pecked her lips. "There's only so many ways to do this. I think this maximises floor space."

Alice laughed, "You can worry about floor space all you want as long as we get this place connected to the floo network. I refuse to live in a place that is not connected to the floo network."

"Al-"

"Don't finish that sentence. Now, why don't we go downstairs and put in an order for food to be delivered. There's something I need to tell you."

After their food arrived, they sat on the floor in the living room eating on the still covered in plastic coffee table they'd ordered a few weeks back.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Alice dropped her fork onto her plate. "There's something that-" A blue patronus the shape of a lion flew into the room and Alice faltered. She didn't want him to find out like this. She didn't recognise the patronus though.

"Operation Niffler a bust. Regrouping at Twinx Park. Plan B a go."

Frank lurched grabbing his wand, cast a patronus and whispered something to it before sending the patronus off and Alice was frozen in place. Frank was in the Order. No other organisation or group of people knew how to use patronuses for communication.

A thousand thoughts ran through her mind. He was a part of the Order but if he was, why hadn't she seen him at any meetings? Why did no one she knew know he was in the Order? Emmeline would've told her. Gideon and Fabian. They would've told her if her fiancé was in the Order but the one thing that rang louder than the rest was that night last February. The night he proposed. Her eyes glazed over the scar on his forehead above his left eyebrow and she shifted away from him.

"I knew it," she whispered. "You lied." She got up off the floor and he followed.

"I didn't lie."

"Yes, yes you did!" She paced away from him, holding a hand to her forehead before turning back. "Valentine's day last year. I asked you if you knew and you — you played dumb and you said you got hurt doing auror work. You lied! You knew about the Order this whole time and judging by that patronus you joined!"

"Anyone who knows about the Order has joined," Frank pointed out. "I never expected you to know and when you asked me if I knew — I didn't, in a million years, think you were talking about the Order. How do you know?"

"It's like you said. Anyone who knows about the Order has joined."

"So you joined. When? How'd you even find out?"

"Em told me about it and Dumbledore approached a few handpicked students from my class and invited them to join. I can't believe you lied to me that night."

"It's not like you've been forthcoming about it either."

"The difference is, I was going to tell you today — now actually. Were you ever going to tell me? You've been there for almost a year — actually it might be longer, I just wouldn't know now, would I? But a year, Frank, and you didn't once think that I might want to know or hell, maybe I'd want to join?"

Frank wiped a hand down his face, "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"You sound like your mother. What because I'm a girl I can't be in the Order? Screw you!"

"No. No! I just thought you'd be safer not knowing about it and I'm a part of a mission that is top secret … that's why I don't attend meetings and why I didn't know your sister is in the Order."

Alice didn't, couldn't look at him. "You should go see if they need help."

Frank went to grab her hand but she flinched away from him. "Al, come on, I don't want to leave it like this."

"Just go, Frank."

"No, I don't need to go and I don't want to go," Frank stood tall. "I know I should've told you but you don't understand. You haven't been in the Order long enough to know."

"To know what?"

His shoulders lowered slightly. "I joined because of Moody. He picked his favourite students and invited us to join. We didn't know what we'd have to sacrifice and you didn't notice because you were in school but I sacrificed things that I didn't even know I'd have to. People I know have sacrificed a great deal more. I had to do things that an Auror wouldn't do. I killed someone, Alice. I sacrificed my morals and I had to cross the line over what I thought was right and what needed to be done. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just didn't want that for you."

Alice wanted to shout and say that it wasn't his choice but something held her back and she nodded. "Okay."

"Seriously?" Frank asked with a raised brow.

Alice sighed and stepped up to him, "Look, I'm not happy about you not telling me but I get why you didn't want to tell me so I'm not mad. Just don't keep things from me. I want to know everything, good and bad."

"I think I can agree to that."

"Good," Alice said. "Now why don't we sit and tell each other all the things we haven't been saying to each other?"

* * *

It was stupid really. She'd only invited him to be polite and she ended up playing right into his hands. It all started on Friday morning when Lily received a patronus from Ella.

"Christmas drinks at the Three Broomsticks. 8pm."

Lily shrugged, shaking her head slightly at the misuse of the patronus system but nonetheless sent a patronus to James, who in turn flooed Lily, his head appearing in the flames causing Lily's mum to shriek and spill her tea on the sofa.

"I could invite some guys from the team," James suggested, after Lily had calmed her mum down.

"Hmm, it would be nice to meet them properly."

"All right that settles it. Tell Ella we're in."

Lily sent a patronus back to Ella, "James and I are in. James may bring PudU mates."

Lily went upstairs thinking to herself that she and her friends may need to invest in phones or two-way mirrors or some sort of communication that isn't one-way or requires a fireplace as she readied for the day.

Lily arrived at work as she always did, settling into her usual bench and spreading out various notes across her work space before attempting something that could possibly get them out of the rut they were in. Eventually, Mulciber took his usual spot opposite her and they exchanged pleasantries before focusing in on their work. Lily had found out that Mulciber wasn't the chatty type which didn't make her mission easier at all and if it weren't for the mission, Lily honestly wouldn't have cared at all.

At morning tea, Alexina came over, sitting next to Lily.

"I must say Lily, your notes are simply extraordinary."

"They're not the answer to your problems though."

"Doesn't mean they're not useful. I hope your doing something fun this weekend to relax that pretty brain of yours."

"Going out for drinks tonight actually."

"Your hottie boyfriend wouldn't be joining you, would he?"

"Of course, oh, Xina, you should come if you don't have any plans. We're just heading to the Three Broomsticks and it's pretty casual. I'd love for you to meet James." Lily could feel Mulciber's stare so she knew he'd heard, and so, to be polite she turned to him, "You can come to, Francis. I'm sure Gid will be there as well."

"Oh well, we might just take you up on that offer," Alexina winked and Lily smiled. "I'll see if I can wrangle Xeno out of the house."

The night started out well. Lily dressed up in a pretty mint dress and James picked her up at eight, they snogged at the front of her house for five minutes before apparating to Hogsmeade. Sirius and Ella were cozied up in a booth with Nate and Marlene opposite them. Madam Rosmerta was behind the bar as always and chatter drifted over the music playing from the turntable.

"I hear you're going to be a big quidditch star, Potter," Rosmerta said as she poured both Lily and James a shot of firewhiskey. "I caught you in that last game. You were terrific."

James grinned. "I'm always terrific for you, Rosmerta."

Lily shook her head with a smile at the flirting James just couldn't help but do with Madame Rosmerta.

"Oh, James you keep me young."

James winked, "Lily says that too."

"I thought Lily was younger than you," Rosmerta said and Lily guffawed in laughter at James' shocked face.

"Rosmerta, I must admit, that was rather rude. Lily is a whole two months older than me! A true cougar she is."

Rosmerta smirked. "My mistake." James pulled out a few galleons but Rosmerta waved it away, "First round is on me."

"I knew there was a reason I still flirted with you. I'd kiss you if I didn't have a woman."

Lily nudged him playfully, "James, what have I said about manners?"

"What are manners?"

"Something you clearly don't possess," Rosmerta sighed. "Go on, join your friends. I'll set up a tab for the two of you so you just holler when you want another round and it'll be right over."

"Thanks Rosmerta," Lily smiled, taking her drink.

"Oh, is that the manners you were talking about?" James asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him as she bit her lip to keep her laughter in.

"Come on, you buffoon."

They joined their friends and Lily was surprised to see a few faces from the Order, like the Fawcett sisters and Meadowes showing up together. Helena Bonham, whom Lily actively avoided on all accounts, was sat with her friends a booth over and Emmeline, Caradoc and the Prewett brothers took up another booth. A few of James' PudU mates turned up and James introduced her to them until she spotted Francis Mulciber walk in by himself.

Lily nudged James and she knew he saw too when he pursed his lips. Lily really would like to repeat that she only invited Mulciber because it was the polite thing to do and not because she'd wanted or even expected him to show up. It was a societal rule, you can't make plans in front of someone without inviting them — socialising 101. This was almost an Order event for Merlin's sake so Lily's discomfort at seeing him there was, she would say the same as, having your wand stuck in your ear.

"You came!" Lily exclaimed and in that moment James could've sworn she could make a career in those telly movies her mum made him watch.

"Er, yeah - yeah," Francis said like he wasn't really sure. "Is Xina here yet?"

"I haven't seen her," Lily said. James cleared his throat and Lily placed a hand on his shoulder, "This is my boyfriend, James. James, Francis."

Lily almost cringed when they shook hands and almost rolled her eyes when somehow the conversation was high jacked by Quidditch.

"So, Lily, could you use a refill?" Francis asked her and Lily not able to disguise the fact that she did in fact need a refill as her glass sat empty apart from the few ice cubes at the bottom.

"Uh, sure," she turned to James and leaned in as though giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful," he muttered in her ear.

"Mmmhmm," she assured him, squeezing his arm. "Tell Gid."

They grabbed drinks and stood awkwardly by a tall table and she could feel her mind being blinded by a murky fog. It was an odd sensation. A sensation that told her something was wrong with a capital 'W'. Where the hell was James? Her eyes scanned the room for him and she would've cursed at the sight of him with his back to her talking to his PudU mates if she hadn't forgotten why she was searching for him in the first place.

"Are you in the Order of the Phoenix?"

The fog was making it hard to think but something stopped Lily from answering, because the answer was on the tip of her tongue. _Yes_. It was right there but she held it back. The fog kept pushing it forward but Lily held it back.

"Are you?" Mulciber pressed.

Lily spared a look into the glass of firewhiskey and noticed the almost undetectable shimmer. Veritaserum. Lily pushed the fog as far back as she could and found the answer she wanted to tell him.

"No." Only answer what is being asked. Don't overdo or he'll figure out that the potion wasn't working.

"Where is Headquarters?"

The fog pushed again but Lily held her ground. "I don't know."

"What's Dumbledore's plan?"

"Dumbledore doesn't have a plan." Except to stop Voldemort.

Eventually he stopped questioning her, the questions getting more and more suspicious until the very last one surprised Lily so much that she almost slipped and asked a question. She was losing her focus. She needed to get out of there and find James.

"Lily, love, Della's here." The sound of his voice and the feel of his hand on her arm was welcomed by Lily with a lot of enthusiasm.

"Thank sweet baby Jesus," Lily muttered, excusing herself from Mulciber and forgetting her drink on the table as James led her away, she grabbed his forearm and slowed him down. "Too fast," she muttered, as the fog swirled inside her, making her feel whoozy. Suddenly, it felt ten times worse than it had when she was standing still.

"Lil? What's wrong?" he turned to face her and she leaned her head on his chest, trying to will the dizziness to go away.

"Veritaserum. Spiked me."

"What?" he hissed.

"Asking me about, about you and the Order." Everything was spinning, spinning, spinning even when she shut her eyes she felt like she was being tossed about the air on a dodgy carnival ride and that felt worse than seeing the room spin so she opened them again and clung to James' shirt.

"About me? What about me?"

God, she really wanted the fog to go. "Um," she had to think hard, too hard but the answer came, "He asked, he asked."

"Lily," he pulled her away cupping her face. "Shh, concentrate. What did he ask?"

She heard the double meaning though. _What did you tell him?_

She shook her head, "I didn't — the fog was telling me to tell him but I didn't — Jamie, I fought — I didn't, I didn't tell him."

"Love, what did he — wait, you fought the potion?"

"Mmmhmmm — had to," she said, her eyes wanting to flutter shut.

"Oh, fucking shit," he muttered, scooping her legs out from under her. "You're going to be all right. You just need to sleep it off." He pressed his lips to her temple as she leaned in to him.

* * *

James paced up and down his bedroom as his dad took a sample of Lily's blood to test all the while lecturing about taking any potion whilst under the effects of alcohol. James wasn't listening to his dad though, how could he? Lily was passed out on his bed because Mulciber spiked her to get information about the Order. Information she may or may not have told him, that part was still hazy.

"I told you she was spiked with veritaserum but she fought it. She said she didn't tell him anything," James told his dad for the fifth time.

"She fought it? Powerful mind. I don't think there's ever been a person on record to fight the truth potion. I wonder if it's the mix of alochol and veritaserum or if it's because she fought it."

"What does her fighting it have to do with anything?"

"The truth potion creates a fog in the mind and it vanishes by telling the truth. Lily resisted the fog, the urge it creates to tell the truth. So the fog could be creating a pressure in her brain. Her blood should be able to tell me what's going on so I'll take this sample and come up with an antidote to help her."

"How long?"

"A few hours."

James nodded, "Thanks dad."

Sirius and Ella walked in, "What happened?" Ella asked sitting next to Lily and brushing her hair aside. "She's warm."

"Mulciber spiked her drink with veritaserum. Asked her about the Order. About me."

"What did she tell him?"

"Nothing. Lied through her teeth. At least that's what she told me before she passed out."

"Does this mean they know that she's in the Order?"

James shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, "I know as much as you. She couldn't really get much out."

James sat up next to Lily as his room slowly filled with their friends. He kept running through Marlene's reassurances that Lily didn't seem to be in any fatal danger but it didn't help to calm his nerves because if she was okay, she'd be awake. The other thing was eating into him too. What did he ask? What did she tell him? What did he know?

Euphemia walked in with a tray of biscuits, James' favourite shortcakes with strawberries and yoghurt, but even James couldn't eat anything as the others talked quietly amongst themselves until Fleamont burst in with something James was much more enthusiastic about.

"This should wake her up. The veritaserum had a bad reaction with the alochol," Fleamont confirmed, going into a small spiel James was sure Lily would be much more interested in and Fleamont held the potion close to Lily's nose.

"She doesn't need to drink it?" Sirius asked.

Fleamont shook his head, "I made it strong enough so the fumes will do just fine. Works better with unconscious patients. Now that should do it." Fleamont stepped away and Lily's eyes fluttered open before sitting up straight.

"James!" she whipped around at his touch. "Mulciber — truth potion and asking me all sorts of questions about the Order. Who was in it and what Dumbledore's plan is and-and about you but it doesn't make sense. I don't know how he even knew it was you that day."

James pushed her hair back cupping her face, "What did he ask?"

"He asked if you stole a book from Malfoy Manor."

A beat. "What?"

"Well, I don't know," Lily said exasperated, "Did you?"

"Steal a book? No, it was more of a," James slid off the bed, rushing to his wardrobe and started searching through it for the robes he wore that day. He patted down pockets until he lifted out a black, "Journal."

Sirius stood up to see it, "I'd say it's more of a diary."

"It doesn't have a lock, it's a journal," James argued.

"We're wizards, just because there's no lock doesn't mean there isn't some charm protecting it."

"Nothing's in it," James argued, flicking through it to show his point.

"That you can see," Sirius pointed out.

"We can argue about that later. Why the hell do they want it so much?" Lily asked and even James and Sirius conceded their fight to think about it. No one could come up with an answer though.

* * *

 _Author's note: Hello everybody!_

 _Thanks for reading and I hope this chapter coming sooner than usual makes you happy because it makes me happy :)_

 _I am officially on uni holidays for a month so hopefully I manage to squeeze more writing in though it's hard because even though I said I had all this ready to go, me reading my writing from years ago is not going well and I'm doing a lot of major changes as I go and when I say major I mean major. Honestly, I'm taking aspects of the first draft and shoving them into this one but a lot of things have changed like Lily and James' occupation and I've done some reshuffling with the timeline not to mention changing this from only lily/James perspective into multiple perspectives so please bear with me._

 _Reviews are better than chocolate, follow if you want to keep up to date with updates and favourite if you just wanna say, hey I like this._

 _Major love to everyone who reads :)_

 _-Natalie xx_


	32. Chapter 31: Here's To My Real Friends

This was bad. So, so bad. So bad that Ella didn't bother to change out of her pyjamas, she just grabbed the robes she was going to wear to the wedding and apparated onto Marlene's front step and she knocked. Loudly. At seven in the morning. She could hear grumblings from inside the house and was appropriately sheepish when Mrs Adams opened the door in her bathrobe.

"Oh, Mrs Adams, uh, is Marls in?"

"At seven in the morning on a Saturday she better well not be out," Mrs Adams stepped aside to let Ella in. "Did you two have plans to dress together for the wedding?"

"Er, not exactly."

"All right then, head up to her room, she might still be sleeping."

Ella wasn't too worried though. Marlene Adams lived for gossip and Ella had just the thing to get her jumping out of bed. Ella let herself into Marlene's room and set down her dress and shoes before sitting on Marlene's bed and shaking her.

"You gotta get up because I am freaking the fuck out," Ella demanded and Marlene groaned.

"What you doing here?"

"Emergency, big time emergency. I-don't-know-how-this-happened emergency. Emergency with a capital 'E'. Are you getting this?"

Marlene rolled over and said, "Mmmhmm. I'll sleep you talk."

"Marlene, this is so bad."

Ella shook her head and looked up to the ceiling. Merlin she told herself she wouldn't cry. There wasn't a reason to yet because she only suspected. Suspicions weren't confirmations. A sniff escaped her and Marlene rolled back at that and opened her eyes.

"El, what kind of emergency has you crying?"

"The being two months late kind."

"Well, yeah that's a pretty big emergency. What were you late for?"

"No. I'm _late._ "

"I'm sure whoever you offended will understand, just go apologise to the person and quit waking me up so early. Haven't you ever heard of beauty sleep? There's a wedding today, you know and I happen to be a big believer of beauty sleep."

"I offended my womb, Marlene. I'm late!"

Marlene shot up straight, Ella flinching back in surprise before slumping and saying, "There we go."

—

 _"There we go!" Sirius exclaimed and Ella giggled. He stripped his tie and undid his top button, simultaneously tossing his backpack so it hit a bedside table. Ella followed him into the dormitory and shook her head when things toppled off the bedside table. She bent down and sorted through the mess and paused at a small black box._

 _"Someone in here planning on proposing anytime soon?" Ella asked, opening the box. A white gold ring with a large circular diamond set in intricate carvings and smaller diamonds glittered in the box._

 _Sirius jumped on his bed peering over Ella's shoulder, his hair tickling her cheek. "Well, don't look at me. It's not mine."_

 _"Which leaves James," Ella smiled, closing the box._

 _"How do you figure?"_

 _"Do Remus or Peter have girlfriends I don't know about?"_

 _"No."_

 _"Exactly. Besides, it was on James' table. Has he said anything?"_

 _"No."_

 _Ella put the ring back on the table and jumped up onto the bed with Sirius. "I can imagine them together," she said, cuddling up to him, "You know, the whole thing. Marriage, kids, growing old together."_

 _"James is the homey-type," Sirius agreed. "The sort who wouldn't move in with a girl unless they were engaged first."_

 _Ella laughed, "That's so … old fashioned."_

 _"Not as old fashioned as getting married."_

 _Ella raised a brow, "You don't believe in marriage."_

 _"I don't believe in it for me." Ella quirked a brow at him and he sighed. "For people like James and Lily it's clear, they stare at each other and anyone in viewing distance can tell that they're destined to get married and have kids and live in a big, old house until they die together. But for people like me? Marriage and kids," he shook his head, "I can't. I won't." He hesitated for a moment. "Does that bother you?"_

 _Every fight and argument, every time she'd been hurt by her drunken father came to mind and the word spilled out before she could think again. "No."_

—

"What are you going to do?" Marlene asked her. "And how late are you? Have you taken a test? And do you and Sirius just fight and shag? Honestly, you've only been living together since September. He can't be that good in bed!"

"I don't know and two months I think, three at the most. I haven't seen a healer yet and basically and yes he is that good. Was that all your questions?"

"You missed only been living together since September."

"Oh, well, I don't think my uterus cares about that." Ella stood and started pacing. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"Well, first, you're going to take a test. You could just be freaking out over nothing. You've been late before."

"True," Ella allowed. "Though I've never been late and sporadically nauseas."

"Oh, honey," Marlene crawled out of her bed.

"Is that your, we-don't-even-need-a-test-you're-pregnant voice? It sounds awfully similar to your you'll-get-through-this-break-up voice."

Ella sat down on the bed again. Pregnant. A baby was inside her. A baby whose mother avoided her own parents at all costs. A baby whose father hated his parents at all costs. There was no circumstance in which this was good. She was nineteen, just out of Hogwarts and trying to climb the Ministry social ladder. She couldn't do that if she had a baby. She'd become stay-at-home mum worrying about whether the baby ate enough or if the baby slept enough or if it pooped enough.

Sirius was another thing all together. He won't want this. Maybe in ten or fifteen years he'd change his mind and want to settle down but Ella knew he didn't want marriage and kids. She wasn't even sure if she wanted that. They were in a war. Was she supposed to tell Sirius to stay and mind the baby when she was on a mission? Worse, would she have to leave the Order?

Sirius would be furious. He'd yell. She was sure of it. Yelling was one of their talents as a couple and she was sure this — a baby — would bring about the biggest match yet. He'd yell and tell her all the things she already knew and she'd yell back and tell him that she knew. They were and would be a mess. Like James and Lily were destined to be in love and happy for the rest of their lives maybe Sirius and Ella's destiny was to be a big fucking mess.

They couldn't be parents.

* * *

Alice sat in front of a mirror as Emmeline performed charms on her hair to curl Alice's soft brown hair and she smiled at Emmeline.

"I can't believe this is really happening."

"If you're having second thoughts it's not too late, in fact, you'd save me the shame of my little sister getting married before me."

Alice laughed lightly. "You know, Fab would marry you in a heart beat."

"I know, but we both agreed to wait until after the war."

Alice wanted to point out that it could be too late after the war but she also didn't want to talk about something so morbid on her wedding day so she let it drop and hoped her sister knew what she was talking about.

Emmeline put her wand down and pulled Alice's hair back, leaving a few strands to frame her face and started sticking pins in to hold Alice's hair up in a soft bun.

"It'll be weird, not being here anymore."

"We'll visit and you'll visit. You can floo over anytime."

"You too."

"Just don't go having kids anytime soon because then I'd really be shamed."

Alice laughed and shook her head. "Kids are way, way off." She'd want to finish Auror training before she even thought of having kids.

"Even if Mrs Longbottom drives you to insanity?"

"Especially so. The old bat is a stubborn mule but I'm more stubborn and I have a plan."

Emmeline glanced up into the mirror as she placed and pinned twigs of baby breaths into Alice's hair, "And what is this plan of yours?"

"Well, I'd want to finish training and get a Junior Auror position. Then three years as a Junior Auror before sitting the exam to become a Special Auror, do that for three to four years before sitting the exam to become Senior Special Auror. Again do that for a few years until I can take the exam to become Special Auror-in-Charge."

"At that rate, I'm never going to be an auntie and your hair is done," Emmeline announced.

"You can wait ten years," Alice assured her, turning her head in the mirror to judge her hair. She smiled widely, "You did good. I look gorgeous."

"Of course you do, you look just like mum," Emmeline said softly, squeezing Alice's shoulders. "Let's get you into your dress, the photographer will be here soon."

Emmeline helped Alice into her dress careful not to step and tear the thin lace. Alice stuck her arms gently through the bell sleeves and held the dress in place so Emmeline could do the buttons. The dress featured a pinched in waist with a v-neckline and the lace on her back was transparent. A small train of lace followed behind her — something she had nightmares about tripping over.

"You look stunning," Emmeline smiled. "Frank's not going to know what hit him."

"You think so?" Alice asked looking herself over in the mirror.

"Definitely."

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Adaline poked her head in, "Your dad said I could come up. His a bag of nerves Al, teared up when he saw me."

"I think I might too, Del, you look amazing!" Alice gushed.

Della's thick hair tumbled in styled curls down her back, with the front part pinned pack to show off her cheekbones and she wore a pretty gold dress that fell to the floor. Della waved Alice off though.

"Please, if I look amazing, you look earth shattering."

Alice laughed and nodded, "I do look pretty good."

"Speaking of looking good, I'm going to go put my dress on," Emmeline said excusing herself.

Adaline came in and held a gift bag out for Alice, "If you haven't got anything for your something blue. I picked this up for you in America."

Alice grabbed the gift bag and pulled out a little red box that read 'Cartier' in gold letters. She opened the box which held a jewellery box that was also red and Alice opened that and gasped. "Della, this is too much."

"No, it's just right."

In the box were two very large and round sapphires the size of a wand tip. "You're not going to let me refuse or you? Adaline shook her head and Alice laughed, "Well help me put them on then."

Adaline held the boxes as Alice put the earrings on and Adaline said, "People have started arriving. Are you nervous?"

"That I'll trip and fall in front of everyone I know? Nah."

"You'll be fine," Adaline insisted.

Alice looked at the earrings in the mirror and turned to Adaline, "Thank you so much. You really didn't have to."

"You're getting married. Of course I did."

—

 _The start of Adaline and Alice's friendship happened over a book series, only the most best book series in the world according to their eleven year old selves. It was called_ Rainbow Magic _and there were so many to read!_

 _The first time either of them noticed that they were reading books from the same series was in History of Magic. They had sat next to each other by chance and Adaline pulled her copy of_ Sky the Blue Fairy _out and Alice started scribbling intensely on her parchment — a note that read, '_ You read _Rainbow Magic_ too! I'm up to _Inky the Indigo Fairy_! _' and the entire lesson was spent swapping notes on the books they had both read._

 _From then on they had been inseparable. Their entire first year consisted of collecting as many Rainbow Magic books as they could together and reading them together but the moment that truly solidified their friendship: when Alice punched Dominique Mulciber in the face after he stole Adaline's copy of_ Storm the Lightening Fairy _._

 _It all happened rather quickly. Dominique bumped into Adaline purposely causing her to drop her books and in his attempt to 'help' her, he started flicking through the book, teasing Adaline about reading such a girly book because, "Your hair's so short I thought you were a boy!"_

 _Adaline remembered feeling so embarrassed and to this day she could still feel the hot flush of blood rushing to her face reddening her up like a tomato but within thirty seconds, Alice had marched over and punched him square in the face, breaking her thumb, and his nose, in the process because she was eleven and didn't know to keep her thumb out of her fist. It was then that Adaline knew that her and Alice were ride or die for life._

* * *

 _Dear Lily,_

 _I'm starting to feel like a charity case for Head Girls. Mary MacDonald has been, well, she's been like how you were with me ever since school started. She's let me sit with her and her friends in the Great Hall and she checks up on me. At first I was hesitant, but then I don't know she grew on me. She's a lot like you. She basically is you except with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyway, because of Mary I started talking to some of the Gryffindor girls in my year and I think I've finally made some friends._

 _I sit with them now in class and they don't care that I'm muggle-born or that I'm practically homeless. They're really sweet and Gwen Fletcher even wants me to come on vacation with her and her family to Paris this summer. Apparently her brother backed out last minute so her parents said she could bring a friend along! I'm so excited, I've never been to Paris! Claire Fraser has also invited us all up to her farm in Ireland for a week!_

 _Please let your mum know that I'll be staying at the castle for the Easter holidays. Sixth Year has been kicking my butt and I think it'd be best if I just stay to focus on some study. The Gryffindor girls are staying too so you don't have to worry about me being alone or anything. Though if your mum could send over some more of that chocolate fudge, I would be eternally grateful. It was the best thing I've ever tasted!_

 _Love, Mia Scott_

Lily smiled before tucking the letter into her draw. She was glad that Mary MacDonald had kept to her word and glad Mia found some loyal friends. The tone of this letter was perhaps the happiest she'd gotten from Mia since school started six months ago and Lily was happy for Mia if not slightly relieved that this was something she could worry less about.

Lily stood from the chair to look at herself in the mirror once more. It was almost time to go and this was, as Marlene would put it, final check. In a pale yellow dress and a white coat with corked heels with white straps, this was as good as it was going to get. She slipped on the gold bangle engraved with 'James+Lily' that James had bought her for her birthday, and slipped on the necklace Euphemia had given her two Christmas's ago and deemed herself ready.

She grabbed her purse, walked carefully down the stairs and let her mum fuss over her before she finally stepped into the fireplace and vanished in green flames only to appear in the Potter's drawing room.

"Oh dear," Euphemia said looking up from the paper she was reading and Lily looked down only to see her white coat covered in soot. Maybe this is why witches and wizards only had a colour scheme of black, emerald and navy. "Why don't you call on over Sprinkle? She can fix that right up for you. I'll go get us some tea while we wait for the boys."

"Oh, er, will Sprinkle even respond to me?" Lily asked.

"Oh of course, she will dear, she answers to anyone who's family and you're as good as." Euphemia waltzed out just as easily as she'd called Lily family.

 _Oh._ A small smile formed on her lips. Family. Lily glanced down at the heirloom that Euphemia and Fleamont had gifted her with the first Christmas James had brought her to and wondered why she seemed so shocked that she had another family apart from the one she was born into. It seemed she had one for a while.

Her eyes caught sight of the soot again and she sighed, "Er, Sprinkle?" she said unsurely and true to Euphemia's word, Sprinkle popped in with a crack.

"Hello, Miss Lily. What is I doing for you today?"

Lily smiled kindly and bent down so she was eye level, shucking off her coat. "Do you mind getting this clean for me before the wedding? It'd be a great help."

"I is doing," Sprinkle assured, grabbing the coat in her long, thin fingers.

"Thank you very much." With that, Sprinkle popped out and Lily was alone, grateful that the house was warm since she didn't have her coat.

"Hey, was that Sprinkle?" James asked.

Lily looked over at him as he walked into the room and smiled. He looked handsome in his dress robes, so handsome that she walked to him and pulled him down for a kiss. He grinned down at her, pulling her closer from the waist. "Hi."

"Hi," she replied. "You look handsome," she patted his chest with her hand.

"And you look gorgeous."

"And together you look like a bumble bee." Sirius strolled into the room, sitting on the couch and propping his feet up.

"A very cute bumble bee," James assured Lily, pressing a kiss to her jawline.

"Sirius," Lily said surprised. "Is Ella here too? I thought we were going to meet at the wedding."

"We were but Ella forgot that she agreed to get ready with Marlene so I thought who better to go with than my best friend and his girlfriend."

"And your parents," Euphemia walked in with a tray of tea. "Did Sprinkle take care of your coat?"

"Yeah, she's taking care of it."

Euphemia winked, "Told you she'd come for you. You're family."

Lily didn't miss the pained glare James gave his mother as she set the tea tray down and Lily frowned. Maybe James wasn't okay with Lily being considered family. It had taken Lily by surprise earlier to hear Euphemia consider Lily family so maybe it took James by surprise too.

"James, is your father still down in the basement?"

"No, pretty sure he was washing up when we were coming down."

"Drink up, your teas. We'll be off as soon as he's down."

—

 _The early days of Hogwarts, those would never be the happiest days of her life, those were yet to come, but it was an easier time or simpler or maybe it just seemed that way when she looked back on it. The early days of Hogwarts, her sister didn't hate her so much and she had Severus and at the time they were her two favourite people. Severus Snape, the person who introduced her to magic, and Petunia Evans, the friend she'd had since she was born. It was a shame the two of them couldn't get over themselves long enough to get along._

 _"Now, your sister is very excited to have you home. We were out at the store yesterday making sure you have everything you need to make your Christmas biscuits and she set aside your favourite ornaments so you could put up on the tree."_

 _Lily gasped in excitement and bounced, "Really? She waited for me to make the biscuits!"_

 _"She's been counting down the days," Rose told Lily. "We're just so happy to have you back, sweetie. It feels like so long since you were here."_

 _"It was only three months," Lily assured her mother. "And Hogwarts is the best! I wish you could see it, mum. The staircases are huge and the biggest one_ moves! _A moving staircase, mum! And the portraits talk and move about like the telly except they're impressions of the real person!"_

 _Rose laughed as her daughter tried to tell her everything in a breath. "I feel like I have seen it. Your letters are so descriptive and I'm glad you're having fun."_

 _When they got home, Petunia hugged her sister excitedly and they all rushed into the kitchen to get started on the biscuits. Lily stayed quiet about Hogwarts at first, the way they had left things before Lily had left, Lily wasn't sure if Petunia wanted to hear about it so instead she asked Petunia about school and their friends. It wasn't until they were putting the biscuits into the oven when Petunia asked her, "So how is school?"_

 _Lily smiled widely, "Oh Tuney, it's everything I hoped it would be and I've met such fun girls — Alice, Della, Ella and Marlene — Marlene is like me. She has non-magic parents but she grew up next to a magical family the McKinnon's. Nate McKinnon is in our year too but I don't talk to him much. The other girls have such cool stories about growing up with magic though. Alice said she didn't know how many generations back her family was from and Ella said she was the tenth generation of magic in her family and Della is the sixth generation."_

 _"So that makes you and the other girl, first generation?" Petunia asked._

 _Lily thought about it and then nodded, "Yeah, I guess."_

 _"What have you," she coughed, "been learning?"_

 _"Oh, all sorts of things you wouldn't imagine! I turned a cup into a bird in Transfiguration and in Charms we learn all sorts of things. Our very first lesson we learnt how to make things float!"_

 _"Like in water?"_

 _"No, in the air! I can make things fly! I think Charms is my favourite. Professor Flitwick says I'm very good at it considering no one else in our family is magic. But I like Potions too and Professor Slughorn likes me. He invited me into some student club called the Slug Club but everyone says only the teacher's pets go so I don't really like going to meetings."_

 _They talked like this until their mother kicked them out of the kitchen so she could cook dinner. It was the first and only time Petunia took interest in magic and Hogwarts, and it was the last time Lily remembered them as a happy family._

* * *

Marlene knocked on the door again. "Ella? Did you do it?"

Ella sucked in a breath, nodding to herself and trying not to look at herself in the mirror. The test had confirmed her fears and sentenced her to a life of motherhood.

"Ella?" Marlene asked again. "Can you open the door, please?"

Ella pushed off the vanity and unlocked the door before sitting on the toilet. Marlene came in, closing the door behind her and saw the pink glowing ball that floated in the air, the same thing that had Ella's stomach sinking to the core of the earth a few minutes ago.

"Oh, honey," Marlene sighed, crouching in front of Ella.

"How am I supposed to do this?" Ella asked her the question that had been running through her mind since the test came back positive.

"You have me. And the girls. And your brother-"

Ella stood up. She hadn't even thought of Caradoc but now that she had, a whole different fear had been knocked into her. She would have to tell her brother that his baby sister was pregnant at nineteen. He would freak, and yell and her parents. Merlin, her parents. Would she even tell them? She hadn't spoken to or seen them in months. Any and all letters they'd sent her, she'd left unanswered.

"No, no, no. I can't, I can't do this!" Ella clutched at her head, as sobs wracked her. "How am I supposed to tell Doc that I'm pregnant? How am I supposed to tell Sirius that he's going to be a dad? I - this is too much. We're too young and I can't — I can't be a mum! I don't even talk to my mum and Sirius doesn't want to be a dad! We agreed. We agreed that we wouldn't be boring. No marriage, no kids. We agreed we'd always be free. Free to do whatever we wanted as long as we were together."

"Hey, breathe," Marlene commanded, "Just breathe. This doesn't have to be the end of the world."

"It's a whole life, Marlene! A baby!" Ella shouted. "There's a baby inside me and I'm responsible for it so it's the end of my world. The end of my career, possibly my relationship and the end of life as I know it. This changes _everything_."

"It doesn't have to."

"Of course it does. It's a baby."

Marlene sighed, "I know this is not something that's considered acceptable in wizarding society, it's not totally acceptable in muggle society either but the doctors, well, our doctors have a way to terminate a pregnancy."

"I don't understand." Ella looked at Marlene with a tear ridden face and splotchy eyes.

"It's a procedure that will get rid of the pregnancy. It's called an abortion."

"But then … the baby will die?" Ella asked, a hand fluttering over her tummy.

Marlene nodded. "If you really don't want this, only we have to know. I'll take you and hold your hand the whole way through but only if you're a hundred percent sure this isn't what you want."

"I — I don't know." A moment ago, she didn't even know she had an option and now, she had a choice to make. A choice between two very different lives. She could do her best to be someone's mother or she could go after what she'd always wanted from life. She buried her face in her hands again. This was impossible. She didn't only hold her life in her hands, but a baby's, a baby who never did anything wrong except exist, and Sirius's. This would turn his life around just us much as it would turn hers around.

"Do you still want to go to the wedding? I can cover for you."

Ella shook her head. "No, I have to go. It's Alice."

Marlene pulled Ella up and started dabbing at her face with the hand towel to soak up the tears. "This is a big decision, Ella. You need to take your time and think about it."

"I know."

"All right. I support you no matter what," Marlene promised her and pulled her into a hug. Ella shut her eyes and just held on for dear life but eventually Marlene pulled away, "Now, let's get you ready for a wedding."

Deep down, Ella was thankful for Marlene's attempt at enthusiasm for the wedding to get Ella's mind off of things but it was a baby and it was literally inside her. Ella didn't think anything could get her mind off of it though she did stop crying once Marlene threatened her with bodily harm whilst doing her make-up.

"I'm really not helping, am I?" Marlene sighed.

"It's not your fault."

"Are you going to tell Sirius today?"

Ella shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe after the wedding. I don't want anything to take attention away from Alice. It's her day."

Marlene nodded. "Well, your hair and make-up's done. Just go get dressed and I'll get Nate and we can head off."

"Thanks … and Marls," Marlene paused at the door, "Please don't tell anyone — not even Nate."

Marlene nodded, "Of course. My lips are sealed until you're ready to spill."

Ella couldn't help it when her lips twitched into a tiny smile at the saying they used to say back in first year when they first became friends.

—

 _Ella Dearborn was always up for trouble when she was eleven. She came from a standard pure-blood family which meant her years before Hogwarts was spent learning etiquette and social cues. Her brother, three years older than her, always came home on Christmas and summer and told her wonderful stories of running and always being with your friends and magic. At home she was never allowed to use magic and her mum thoroughly chastised her when she used it accidentally especially in the last year or so because she was meant to be able to control it better._

 _Arriving at Hogwarts, was freedom for Ella. She was allowed to run and eat with her elbows on the table, she was allowed to ask questions! Her only guidance was at an arm's length, close enough to reach when she needed it but far enough away when she didn't and she had friends now. Lily Evans, an animated girl, was always kind to Ella and sat with her in Transfiguration and even though Ella found that boy from Slytherin that Lily hang out with weird, Ella liked having Lily as a friend. Alice Vance, maybe too into make-up and hair and things but Ella had known Alice since she was little. They attended the same etiquette classes by Madame Lemaire from the ages of five to nine — learning the right way to hold a teacup by a stuck-up french lady didn't do much to teach you but did wonders for mocking with the person next to you. Adaline Bennett, a quieter girl, more sporty from what Ella could tell by the Quidditch poster above her bed but she always received fabulous gifts from her much older brothers and Alice warmed up to her quickly so Ella hung out mostly with them at first … until halloween._

 _Marlene Adams was gossipy and, like Alice, into make-up and hair and fashion and MUSIC. Whatever Marlene played in the dorm was nothing Ella knew, it was all muggle stuff but even Ella admitted to herself that some of it, a lot of it, was good. Though Ella hadn't admitted it to anyone, the reason why Ella had kept her distance from Marlene — and even Lily — was because she didn't feel she knew anything about them. With Alice it was easy. They'd known each other growing up and Bennett, well, Bennett grew up with magic. That excuse ran dry on that first halloween spent at Hogwarts and it all started with a secret._

 _"Can I tell you something? But you have to promise not to tell anyone!" Marlene sat next to Ella on the couch._

 _Ella smirked. She was always up for a secret, especially if it entailed a bit of trouble. "My lips are sealed until you're ready to spill."_

 _Marlene pulled out of her pocket Peyton Aitken's horrendously fat mouse that was large enough to be called a rat._

 _"It tried to get into my bag in the library, my mum sent me all these cheeses for halloween, and anyway, yesterday Peyton called me a — well, a you-know-what"_ _— Ella gasped — "Oh don't worry about that I don't really care what she thinks of me anyways, I just thought losing her rat might have her sweating for a few days."_

 _Ella giggled, "You'd probably take care of the thing better than she does."_

 _"Rule one, it's going on a diet. It is way to fat for a mouse. The thing could barely run when I caught it."_

 _"You're already doing a better job than Aitkens," Ella paused and then, "Why did you mum send you cheese for halloween? Is that a, er, a muggle thing?"_

 _Marlene laughed. "No. I'm just going through a cheese phase and apparently a new cheese and breads shopped opened in town so mum thought I'd appreciate cheese more than candy."_

 _"A cheese phase?"_

 _Marlene shrugged, "I go through phases."_

 _"Like stealing people's pets kind of phases."_

 _Marlene grinned, "Only when they're mean."_

 _That was the start of a friendship that would only end when one of them was no longer on this Earth._

* * *

This was the beginning and sometimes beginnings were scary. Sometimes you wanted to run from them before they could start because you were scared of what it could bring. Alice was when Frank first proposed but the thing was, Alice wasn't scared anymore, she wasn't even nervous. The moment she met Frank, their destiny together had been sealed and of this she was sure even if she was frightened of it at first.

"Are you ready, honey?" her dad asked, pulling the veil over her face.

"I am," Alice grinned.

"I'm real proud of you. You're mum is too."

Alice wrapped her arms around her dad and blinked hard to stop the tears. She didn't want to be a weepy bride. "I wish she were here."

"She is. She'll be watching over you and your sister always. She's not missing anything," her dad promised. The music started and Adaline and Emmeline started walking up the aisle. "That's our cue."

"I love you, dad."

"I love you, too, Alice. Now let's get you married."

Alice smiled and they stepped into the aisle, walking slowly up the aisle to where Frank stood. It was like her heart tripled in size when she saw him and her smile spread so wide across her face — she didn't think she'd ever been or would be happier.

"Finally," she whispered when they reached the end of the aisle and Frank chuckled.

"You look amazing!"

She kissed her dad on the cheek and stepped up next to Frank, palming her bouquet off to Emmeline and then it started and she knew.

She was meant to be standing in this very spot under a white tent in front of all her family and friends opposite the love of her life. She didn't know why or how but she knew that much.

"Do you, Alice Eugenie Vance, take Francis August Longbottom to be your lawfully wedded husband in sickness and in heath?"

Alice smiled so widely her cheeks hurt, "I do." Alice slid the gold wedding band onto Frank's finger with shaky hands.

"And do you, Francis August Longbottom, take Alice Eugenie Vance to be your lawfully wedded wide in sickness and in health?"

Frank matched her smile, squeezed her hands and said, "I do." Frank slid her gold wedding band onto her finger to join her engagement ring and Alice felt the love of a thousand years.

"With these symbols of love and life you have pledged your lives to each other until death do you part. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"With pleasure," Frank grinned as he pulled Alice in to kiss her softly. "Hi wife."

Alice giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him again. "Hi husband."

—

 _It wasn't the most romantic meeting in the world. In fact, it wasn't romantic at all but it was a moment that changed their worlds. Frank was in Sixth Year and Alice in Fifth. They were both in Gryffindor so it wasn't that they hadn't seen each other around. Everyone knew Frank, he was considered top five hottest in his year and Alice was not immune to his looks. She admitted regularly to the girls that she'd snog him senseless in a broom cupboard, but half the girls at Hogwarts said that._

 _The thing that tipped the scale in Alice's favour over half the girls at Hogwarts was he hit her with a giggling charm by accident — or well, she thought it was by accident but really, Frank had been trying to find a way to talk to her._

 _"I'm so sorry!" he apologised coming over. "I was meant to hit Demure because — well, it's a long story."_

 _Alice could only laugh, "I'm sorry!" she apologised in the midst of giggles. "This isn't laughing but I can't stop funny!"_

 _Frank bit in his laughter at Alice's order of words and she groaned — well, tried to. Groaning and laughing was an odd combination._

 _"Fix it!" she insisted. "I can't stop!"_

 _"Can't stop funny?" he asked with a smirk and she glared at him. "Okay, okay, don't get any ideas." He quickly performed the counter charm and the giggles subsided._

 _Now that Alice had her wits about her back she folded her arms, "Need a charm to make a girl laugh, Longbottom?"_

 _"Come to Hogsmeade with me next trip and we can find out."_

 _Alice bit her lip. That was smooth and she really, really wanted to say yes. "I"—_

 _"Say yes, Alice. Laughs guaranteed."_

 _"Or what? What do I get if you can't make me laugh?"_

 _"Your pick in Honeyduke's, on me and I promise to never unleash the giggle charm on you again."_

 _Alice considered. "And what if I want the whole shop?"_

 _"Then I guess I'm getting you the whole shop — if I can't make you laugh, that is."_

 _"Of course though you realise I'm going to be really determined not to laugh. It's been a lifelong dream. Unlimited freedom in Honeyduke's."_

 _"That is the dream," Frank agreed. "So is that a yes?"_

 _Alice tucked a hair behind her ear and nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is."_

* * *

"1…2…3!"

The bouquet of roses and orchids flew through the air arching straight towards, and much to her surprise, Lily. She reached up to catch it, petals showering her as her fist clipped around the handle and Marlene cheered.

"Oh my God! You caught it!" she exclaimed as Lily held the bouquet like a trophy in the air. "Knew you'd be next," Marlene quipped.

Lily rolled her eyes and laughed, hitting Marlene with the flowers. "Maybe you'll be next."

"No, I didn't catch it. Superstition dictates that you'll be the next person in this room to get married."

Lily laughed it off because it was just a dumb superstition, just because she caught some flowers didn't mean she was getting married anytime soon. Though she had to admit, if it were Marlene who had caught the bouquet, it would be jokes for days.

"Lily!" Alice exclaimed, grinning. "You caught it!"

"I did," Lily grinned. "James better get proposing." Ride or die, right?

"Let's take a few photos," Alice demanded gesturing to the photographer with a camera that looked like it came out of the eighteen hundreds. "Then we can find James and tell him to get proposing."

Lily nudged her as they posed for the photo. After a few blinding flashes the photographer moved on and Lily turned to Alice, "So, how does it feel being married?" Lily asked.

"It's wonderful," Alice grinned. "If I could find him. Have you seen Ella? I feel like I've barely seen her around."

"Yeah, I don't know," Lily shrugged. "Marlene said she came down with a bug or something but go and enjoy the party because Emmeline is coming over with another round of firewhiskey and it's my cue to scamper."

Alice laughed. "Come back after you put the flowers down! We are all getting insanely, sloppily drunk tonight!"

"Yeah we are!" Lily agreed as Marlene pulled Alice towards Emmeline declaring, "Shots!"

Lily quickly made a break for it because she really did want to put the flower before things got out of hand. She headed towards her table that was now empty and sighed. If she wanted James she'd have to hunt for him.

"I see we're next to get married." Arms wrapped around her waist pulling her into a familiar person and she whacked him with the flowers despite the smile at her lips — the flowers were quickly becoming a weapon against people and she wasn't sure why.

"It's just a dumb superstition," she said, turning around to pull him closer.

"One I happen to like a lot." He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, her heart stopped from his words — Euphemia's talk about family and … was James thinking about proposing?

She pulled back, opening her mouth to say something but before anything could come out a distraction in the form of Remus appeared.

"Well, if it isn't Mr and Mrs Bumblebee."

"Does everyone know about this already?" Lily turned around to face Remus, "And I am going to kill Sirius for coming up with bumblebee!"

James chuckled, hugging Lily from behind and resting his chin on her head. Lily considered the distance between her and their table and tossed the flowers onto it.

"Maybe when we get married we should have a bee theme. Yellow flowers, black ribbons. Yellow dresses, black tuxes, yellow ties."

"No," Lily said. "Yellow tuxes, black ties. If we're going to have something as ridiculous as a bee theme we may as well make it as ridiculous as possible."

"Fiesty," James commented.

"I would so wear a yellow tax — tux!" Remus hiccuped and Lily studied him and then, "Remus John Lupin! You are drunk!"

"I am and have concluded that you should be more drunk!"

Lily chuckled and asked where the other two were just as two translucent blue phoenixes came into the tent, whispering into Remus and James' ear.

"What? What is it?"

"We're needed at Hogwarts," Remus said, serious.

"What?"

"We gotta go. Four Death Eaters approaching the gates," James pulled away from Lily, pulling his wand out as though the Death Eaters were approaching the wedding.

"James — he's drunk!" Lily protested. "He can't go anywhere much less fight."

James shot his wand at Remus and said, "Done. Sobering charm."

"Let's find Sirius and Peter and let's go."

James kissed Lily's temple and then followed Remus through the crowd. Lily watched James until he left the tent and her heart sunk a million miles. She felt how she did back on New Year's Eve when he left her to go fight. Frightened with her guts being threaded by a blender.

"Where're they going?"

Lily flinched in surprise as Ella came up next to her and what spewed out of her mouth next was a bunch of word vomit.

"Where the hell have you been? You missed the bouquet toss! I caught it and please don't start with the engagement jokes because I really think he might propose soon — just little things like Euphemia calling me family and the house elves doing what I ask them to. Don't even get me started on James because when I tried to brush it off saying it was a superstition, he said and I quote, 'one I like a lot'."

"Lily? You okay?"

"No. They've gone to Hogwarts. Four Death Eaters are trying to get in."

* * *

A black dog charged at one of the four Death Eaters and James cursed when her hood fell. It was the unmistakeable curls of Bellatrix Lestrange. The dog's sharp teeth snapped around her wand, splitting it in half. Bellatrix screamed in anguish and slashed at the dog with her long fingernails.

"Get away you mangy mutt!" her screech floated over to where James and Remus hid behind a tree.

"And in three, two, one," Remus uttered and right on time, a rat found it's way up another hooded figure's leg, taking care to scratch and bite the entire way up.

The hood fell down to reveal Rodolphus Lestrange. He started shaking his leg, patting down, no doubt trying to find the creature that had crawled up his leg but Peter was good. The rat found it's way up Rodolphus' leg, up his torso and down his right arm, biting hard on his fingers making Rodolphus drop his wand. The dog immediately nosed it away with his nose, dodging a swift kick from Bellatrix as the rat leaped through the air and landed on another's head.

The woman shrieked, swatting at her head as the rat leapt onto her arm and did the same thing. He bit down on her hand and her wand fell out of her grasp just in time for the dog to snatch it in his jaw and snap it.

"This is bloody animal's gone mad!" Rodolphus shouted as the dog, as it had done for Bellatrix, leapt through the air and snatched the remaining Death Eater's wand right out of her hand but not breaking it.

"And go," James urged Remus.

"Here goes nothing."

Remus stepped out from behind the tree and said, "Padfoot, drop!" The dog trotted over to Remus and dropped the wand at his feet before sitting obediently. "Wormtail!" Remus called and within a minute, the rat was sitting upon the dog's head. "Lovely."

"Who are you?" Bellatrix Lestrange demanded to know.

"Remus Lupin," one of the still hooded woman answered. "A werewolf."

Remus didn't falter at this even though it concerned him how this woman knew. "Leave now and no blood needs to spill."

Rodolphus laughed. "You think you're a match for us?"

"None of you have wands," Remus pointed out. "Of course, I'd give you back this one so you can apparate out."

"You're being too kind, Remus," James stepped out from behind them and they jumped turning around.

"James Potter," Bellatrix snarled. "You have something the Dark Lord wants."

"You tell him that if he wants it, he can come get it," James told her. "Now, why don't you run along and tell him all about how you almost snuck into Hogwarts?"

Bellatrix glared at him before laughing. "You better watch your back, Potter. We'll find out how you're controlling these fleabags and I'll be coming for you next. You and that filthy mudblood you call a girlfriend."

The dog bared his teeth and growled deeply.

"Padfoot," Remus muttered.

"You touch her and I'll make sure you live to regret it," James threatened.

"I think it's best you leave before the faculty come down. They could have you arrested for trespassing."

Remus kicked the still-intact but slobbery wand at them and the owner bent down to pick it up. James could see them considering to fight, they glanced at each other but the doors to the castle opened and in it's light Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore and Flitwick could be seen.

The four Death Eaters linked hands. With a twist and a crack, they were gone.

James breathed out in relief, sagging against Remus. It had always been so easy having that cocky persona in the walls of Hogwarts but James had never been more scared in his life. They could have called for back-up. The owner of the one wand could have killed them. Two killing curses one after the other — there was no spell to protect against that.

Sirius and Peter transformed back into themselves and they stood in a silent circle, staring at the floor in the wake of what they'd just accomplished and then, Peter broke.

A giggle escaped his lips. "I'm sorry it's not funny," he said but another giggle came out as he bit on his fist.

James could see Sirius' lips twitching too and James bit his lips to stop him from smiling.

Peter burst into full out laughter. "It's just! They think you two can control animals!"

James lost it then and laughter spilled out of his mouth too because it was absurd that they left so easily because of a rat and a dog when there were only two armed wizards present. It sounded ridiculous. Ridiculously funny.

Sirius was barking with laughter and Remus was shaking with silent laughter as Peter recounted their attack on the four Death Eaters with the other three pitching in.

"How long do you think Bellatrix will dedicate herself to trying to control animals?" Sirius wheezed.

"I don't even think that's an actual thing," Remus said. "I mean above normal obediency commands like sit, stay, roll-over and what not. She'll be searching for a long time."

The four boys laughed outside of the Hogwarts gates like they hadn't a care in the world, cracking jokes and teasing each other as though it were just another full-moon or midnight outing.

* * *

It had been over two weeks since the wedding and Lily had found not much had changed since then. Things work wise were still the same. Lovegood had made barely any progress on the charm and Lily and Francis' 'friendship' had only grown as the days passed, usually working together on the spell which annoyed Lily because it meant she had to hold back in case she gave him any ideas.

Sirius complained some that Ella was being distant but Lily didn't make much of it because, well, them fighting hadn't become unusual but she did notice Ella hadn't been acting herself lately. She hadn't come out for after work drinks since the wedding and wouldn't even have a goblet of firewhiskey with everyone at Order meetings. It wasn't like Ella to decline a drink when everyone else was drinking. Lily had tried to ask Marlene but she only insisted that everything was fine as far as she knew and had left it at that.

Lily glanced at her mum, the only person in Lily's life who's world wasn't affected by the simmering war. James had suggested telling Rosie about the war but how could Lily change her mum's world like that? It wouldn't do Rosie any good to know about a war secretly raging. All telling Rosie would accomplish was making her paranoid and worried. Lily much rather her mum live in ignorant bliss for sometimes Lily wished she could too.

Things had been nice lately. Nothing exciting had happened in the Order lately — no kidnappings or near deaths for anyone — and Alice and Frank's wedding had they're entire friend circle in a good mood and they'd gathered for drinks almost every night, it was almost like they were in a honeymoon bubble of their own and James was being very affectionate lately which Lily did not mind one bit. The other day they actually hid from Euphemia just to snog — not even shag — just snog in various locations of the house like they were at school hiding from Filch. The day still brought a smile to Lily's lips as she could still hear the sound of their mingled giggles as they ran across the lawn and into the trees, away from Euphemia who seemed particularly set to find them. Though when they were hidden by the shade of the trees, they simply lay together and talked, occasionally kissing with roaming hands and the whisper of 'I'm going to love you forever'. A promise, Lily thought, that she didn't even need to hear or say to know it to be true. It was in her very bones.

Weekly dinners at her place became a thing on Friday nights and it filled Lily with contentment to see how well her mother and James got on — much better than her mother and Vernon at any rate. James would forever be a charmer in Rosie's eyes and Lily was inclined to agree. James was the perfect boyfriend. He offered to help cook and clean up afterwards, he was funny, offering funny stories and debate topics like 'who's smarter, the smartest wizard or witch or the smartest muggle?'

They were in the middle spaghetti bolognese and one of James' stories when it happened.

The front door came careening into the kitchen so quickly and forcefully that it slammed straight into the table with an almighty crash, turning it upside down and pining Lily down.

"Lily!" she heard her mum shout as James staggered to his feet with his wand in front of him.

"James," Lily gasped, "Who … ?" Fear overcame her as she saw him.

She'd heard from whispered gossip of what the man who started all this looked like but it wasn't the same as seeing for merely seeing the man shot ice cold shivers down her spine chilling her to her toes. His skin was translucent white, so much so that she could see his spidery blue veins under his skin and his eyes were blood red slits that could fool any muggle into believing this was the devil reincarnate — maybe he was. He wore heavy black robes and held his bone white wand with both hands in the centre of his body as though he was finding his centre self to become zen. It was eerie. Despite having blasted a door through an entire house, the man was calm, surveying his surroundings with a certain aloofness that had Lily wanting to run.

Rosie screamed and Lily's focus returned. She had to get her mum out of here. She had to get out from under this blasted table which was heavier than she'd ever realised. Straining, she dragged her leg up, using her leg strength to lift the table up enough to give her enough wiggle room to find her wand which was jammed into her lower back. She twisted her arm, her fingers groping and scratching at her skin until it gripped her wand, shuffling it out from her back.

"Mum," Lily gritted, "Mum, you have to run!"

"Lily — James she's stuck!" Rosie shouted, hysterically trying to lift the table that had always been a two person lift.

"Lil!" James shouted not taking his eyes off the intruder.

"I'm fine," Lily called. "Get mum-"

Suddenly, Lily couldn't talk and the table was crushing an impossible weight on her and it was all she could do to keep breathing as the table pressed on her stomach.

"What are you doing?" James shouted as though Lord Voldemort would answer.

Lily watched with horror, struggling against the table, as Voldemort stalked towards her mother, James' spells bouncing off of him as though they were bits of fluff he was flicking off his shoulder until with a slash of his wand, James was pressed against the fridge struggling to breathe.

Lily's hand clasped freely around her wand and the table sprung off her with barely a thought and Lily scrambled up to her feet pointing her wand at Voldemort.

"Let her go!" Lily demanded. "She didn't do anything!"

"Your boyfriend has though." Suddenly, James fell hard on the floor, gasping for air and Lily rushed over to him.

"Me?" he breathed. "What have I done?"

"You stole something of mine. Return the book and join my ranks and I shall forgive your misgivings."

"Join your ranks? Why would we do that? Why would you even want me?" Lily shouted bewildered. She was a muggle-born. The type of person he despised and was trying to rid the world of.

"Now flaws in blood can be forgiven with extraordinary talent. I have two of my most loyal servants pleading your case Miss Evans so I myself looked into your family line. Did you know you're very distantly related to the Prewett line?"

"The Prewetts," Lily echoed, her brain spinning.

"Yes. You descended from a squib Prewett who married a muggle man, all abominable of course but clearly, magic still ran through the line until it flourished in you. Having you and Mr Potter in our ranks would greatly serve me."

"Well we—"

"Don't be so hasty, Mr Potter. You see if you refuse my offer, Mrs Evans here will meet a rather untimely death."

"No!" Lily shouted starting forward only to be caught by James who wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her back. She fought against him, clawing at his hands trying to get him to let her go. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!"

"It's simple. Join or she dies."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Thank you for reading! Please review, favourite and follow :)_

 _-Natalie xx_


	33. Chapter 32: Patronus Chain

Being a transfigured vase of flowers wasn't exactly Remus' idea of a typical Saturday but here he was being carried into the Malfoy Manor posing as one of the many bunches of flowers being brought into the house for the big wedding. Sirius' brilliant idea for undercover surveillance and Moody had jumped on it like a frog to a lily pad and so Remus' next several hours were to be spent in the Malfoy Manor, thankfully, not as a vase of flowers.

A disguised Peter set him on a table and when no one was looking, slipped the invisibility cloak over Remus' transfigured form. Remus untransfigured himself, sliding as silently as possible off the table and making sure the cloak covered as much of him as possible. Remus tapped Peter's shoulder twice to let him know that he was fine before exiting the room to basically snoop. Remus had studied for this, it was why he was the flowers instead of Peter. Remus remembered every inch of this mansion like it was the back of his hand and per Sirius' suggestion, he started with the room James found the diary in.

The diary was infuriating everybody. It clearly meant a lot to the Death Eaters which meant it was important to Voldemort but they tried everything and the damn thing didn't spill a god damned secret. They all had theories. Peter thought it held all of Voldemort's grand plans. Lily thought it might be a weapons creation journal and that it'd be full of deadly formulas. James suggested that it held names of all Voldemort's Death Eaters and allies. Marlene agreed with Peter about the grand plans. Ella said it could be a daily planner and that "maybe Voldemort booked in hair appointments or something". Sirius countered Ella and said "nah, it's where he writes all his _feelings_ " to which a fantastic debate begun about whether _the_ Lord Voldemort had or felt emotions. The general consensus was that he was "a heartless Lord of Everything Miserable".

In the absence of progress, it was agreed that further action should be taken to find out what the diary kept secret and saw Remus and Peter nominated to infiltrate the Malfoy Manor where the book was found. Peter because he had the perfect surveillance disguise as a rat and Remus, well because he happened to be free and so Remus found himself sneaking around a mansion whilst it's occupants were busy with attending a wedding in the backyard.

Remus felt it when Peter climbed up his leg and arm onto his shoulder, barely flinching he patted Peter's head as he entered the drawing room that was honestly, to Remus' eyes, more of a library. A desk stood at the end of the room facing the door and Remus headed for that first. Peter climbed down Remus' arm and onto the table to start sniffing around but when his paw touched a loose bit of parchment with a messy scrawl on it, Peter went flying across the room hitting the bookshelf behind them.

Intrigued, Remus bent over the parchment, careful not to touch it, the scrawl was messy and a lot of it was in shorthand or some sort of code but it was a familiar sort of code which reminded Remus, oddly enough, of his potions notes.

"Oh don't mind me," Peter wheezed from behind him having transformed back.

"Come look at this," Remus demanded, pulling the hood of the cloak down so he was just a floating head. "It looks like a recipe."

Peter came around to peer at the recipe and frowned. "'For MGB' what's that supposed to mean? And aren't a lot of these poisons?"

He was right, Remus realised. Deadly nightshade. Water hemlock. White snakeroot. All poisonous muggle plants and fatal ones at that. MGB. Muggle-borns? It'd be poetic, Remus supposed from their minds.

Remus' ears pricked at the voices outside the door. "No one is to enter this room," Lucius Malfoy's voice could be heard along with an accompanying set of footsteps down the main stairs. Remus sighed in relief and checked his watch. The house should be mostly deserted until the end of the ceremony.

Peter and Remus took their time searching this room and found nothing else but the other pages to that potions recipe.

"Oi," Peter called, his face an inch from the page. "You don't think this is Snape's handwriting do you?"

"If it is … it'll definitely work."

"Well it's definitely for muggle-borns. Look here." Peter pointed at a paragraph on one of the new pages they'd found.

 _'The antidote to only be distributed in water supply. Once taken the person is inoculated for six months.'_ Remus frowned. "Is this an antidote recipe? Or a poison recipe?"

Peter considered and then said, "Both. Look that one is titled 'For MGB' and this one is titled 'For PB'. MGB, muggle-borns. PB, pure-bloods and I'd guess Malfoy is inoculating all the 'worthy' purebloods at the biggest magical wedding of the century."

"Fuck," Remus hissed. "Transform back," Remus hissed, pulling up the hood of the cloak. "We gotta get back to Headquarters."

"How we getting passed the guard?"

Remus considered. "Slit the door open, stun him."

Peter transformed and took his spot on Remus' shoulder. Remus tapped his wand over the parchment and successfully duplicated it and picked up the duplicated copy. He shoved it into his pocket and headed for the window. The wedding was set to start in, he checked his watch, ten minutes. Most people should be out of the house by now. Peering out the window, Remus saw two men in suits guarding the entrance of the tent and a few more loitering about in strategic spots. A paranoid man, Lucius Malfoy seemed to be.

Remus walked to the door and pressed his ear to it. Silence. Peter tapped his cheek twice, confirming that they were good to go. Remus twisted the doorknob painfully slow to avoid any creaks or screeches and pushed it open just enough to see through a slit. The suited man was standing directly in front of the two double doors making it exceptionally easy to send a silent stunner. The man fell and Remus took care to step over him as he closed the door.

Remus spotted the last of the help hired to prepare for the start of the wedding leaving and Remus slipped out of the front door behind them. He followed behind them closely all the way to the gates and as easily as they'd come in, Remus and Peter left the premises apparating out as soon as they were on the other side of the gate.

Remus ran frantically through Headquarters, searching in room after room for where everyone would be gathered. He'd never seen Headquarters so quiet. Usually there were a few people spread across different rooms — apparently even secret organisation weren't free from the clutches of cliques. The Hogwarts alumni usually had the living room, the senior citizens the dining room and the middle aged ministry workers the kitchens. But today there was no one in any of the rooms on the first floor.

"Come on," Remus muttered to Peter as he headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

Finally he heard signs of life. He heard sobbing.

Remus walked carefully into the room, Peter close on his heels and Remus' gut wrenched when he saw that it was Lily crying. She was clinging to James, hugging him so tightly that he wasn't sure how James could breathe. Something had happened beyond what Remus had found out. That much was obvious.

* * *

She stared down his cold eyes. She could join their ranks. Be a spy for the Order. She could do that if it saved her mother's life.

"Lily, go! Just get out of here! Don't worry about me! Don't go with him!" her mum looked at her desperately and Lily shook her head.

"I can't! Mum! Please just let her go! I'll go with you just leave my mum and James alone!"

"Lily no!" James shouted turning her around. "You can't!"

Lily touched his cheek gently, "If it keeps you and mum safe … I have to."

* * *

She'd been putting it off. Merlin, she'd been putting it off so badly that she was sure Weatherby knew she was pregnant before Sirius did — if Weatherby didn't know, she certainly assumed after the fourth time Ella threw up into the trashcan — the morning sickness really was something else and Ella truly loathed it. Alice would get back from Italy before Ella told Sirius at this rate and it wasn't that she didn't want to tell him, she didn't know how to bring something like that up. It was getting ridiculous though she had to tell him, he needed to know and she just needed to rip the bandaid off. They'd fight and argue and say things they didn't mean, they always did and then, she had to believe, it'd be okay.

It had to be because despite Marlene's way out, Ella couldn't imagine getting rid of her baby — even if that baby was an accident and had the worst timing in the world. It was strange, but she already felt a sort of protectiveness over it and she knew that she'd do anything for this baby, anything at all to make sure it was happy and safe and loved. It helped her to become unafraid of repeating history because she knew it to her core that she'd never let what happened to her and Sirius happen to this baby. This baby would never have a reason to be unhappy.

She spent the entire day at work thinking about what she'd say and how she'd say it. She practised the words in her head and told herself it'd be fine, that he'd come around. After work she stopped by the hospital so she could get a check-up since she'd decided to keep the baby, she thought it was time to find out more about the little thing inside of her.

"So you're keeping it?" Marlene asked as she set her up in a room.

Ella brushed her hands across her stomach and nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

Marlene grinned and pulled Ella into a huge hug. "I can't believe you're gonna be a mummy!" She pulled away. "Does Sirius know yet?"

"No, tonight. I'm telling him tonight so just keep quiet until we talk again."

Marlene nodded, "Of course. Healer Bodie will be in in a minute. I'll be around-"

"Can you stay?" Ella blurted. "I don't wanna do this alone."

Marlene stayed with Ella as Healer Bodie performed the necessary tests to determine how far into the pregnancy Ella was and when the due date would be.

"You'll be a proud mummy on August sixteenth. You're about three and a half months along and this is your precious baby," Healer Bodie handed Ella the ultrasound photo and Ella stared at the tiny baby in complete awe. Marlene sniffed and squeezed her hand and Ella laughed blinking back her own tears but she couldn't help it.

This little thing inside of her was hers and Sirius' and they made it together without ever meaning to. It was the most miraculous thing to happen in her entire life and she grew up with magic. Looking at the tiny person inside of her, an overwhelming sense of love flooded her, washing over every crevice of her very being and any thoughts that had lingered about maybe not doing this completely vanished.

Suddenly, it didn't matter if she was nineteen. It didn't matter if she wasn't married, hell, at this point it wouldn't even matter to her if Sirius walked out. She wanted this baby so, so much she didn't know how she couldn't see that before.

"Sorry, I'm not normally a crier," she wiped away her tears. "I'm just a little overwhelmed. Is the photo .. Is it moving?"

Healer Bodie nodded, "Mmhmm, it's like a real life photo of your womb so it shows your womb as it is in that moment."

The healer left after talking Ella through things that she should steer clear of and stuff she should eat more and less of. It was a lot to remember but Marlene promised she'd be there every step of the way for any questions.

"Next week we can go to Diagon Alley and pick up some pregnancy books," Marlene suggested.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Ella sighed, leaning her head on Marlene's shoulder as they still stared at the ultrasound. "It's so tiny," she murmured.

"I can't believe it's inside you," Marlene said. "I think Sirius will be okay."

"Do you think so?"

Marlene nodded. "He may act tough and all that but I think deep down, he's a softie."

"He is, isn't he?"

"So you'll be fine. Just keep a cool head."

With that in mind Ella walked home so she she could think more about what to say and how and to just clear her head. She felt all over the place now that she'd seen the tiny baby inside her. Excited, nervous, terrified and happy all at once. Maybe this was the hormonal thing the healer was talking about.

Sirius was hunched over the blank diary in the kitchen when she opened the door and she sat opposite him nervously. He glanced up and said, "Hey, how was work?"

"It was okay. Sirius, I — there's something I need to tell you."

"Hmm?" His attention still on the diary.

"I'm serious. It's important. Can you put that away for five minutes?"

"Sorry, it's sort of addictive trying to figure out what's in it. Between James, Remus, Peter and I, we've tried almost everything and still nothing. It's like it repels magic," Sirius shook his head. "It's got to be something big. Huge if Voldemort wants it."

Ella sucked in a big breath and said his name again, fiddling with the ultrasound photo under the table.

"Oh right." He closed the book and slid it to the end of the table. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's, er, wrong. I just have some news."

"Some news?" he quirked a brow.

"Yeah." She steeled a breath and told herself she could do this no matter how he reacted. She could get through this and the thought that she wasn't alone anymore, her fingertips trailing her stomach, struck her like a brand of hope. She slid the photo onto the table so Sirius could see it and with a breath said, "I'm pregnant."

Sirius didn't say anything and Ella didn't know if it was because he was too shocked or if it was because he was too angry. Either way it was making her too nervous.

"Sirius," she said gently, reaching out to touch his hand but he jolted out of his seat and Ella felt a flash of hurt before she heard Remus' voice behind her.

She turned to see the brilliant blue wolf standing in their kitchen and the words out of it's mouth had Ella grasping the back of her chair so tightly her knuckles went white.

* * *

She turned around to face Voldemort. His eyes cold and cruel and she accepted what she'd have to do. The choice between herself and those she loved was the easiest she'd ever made.

"I'll join you only if you let my mother and James go free."

He studied her and nodded. "We'll have you married to someone so you can change your last name. Others won't be as forgiving of your last name." She went stiff and she felt James go rigid behind her, his hand squeezing hers so tightly it was a wonder it didn't fall off.

He let go, stepping around her. "If you want only one of us-"

"James what are you doing?"

"Take me."

"James!" Lily shouted, panic shrouding every inch of her. "You can't!"

But love went both ways.

* * *

It was ridiculous having exams on a Saturday night in Marlene's opinion. They should be on a weekday, you know the established Monday to Friday not at six in the afternoon on a Saturday but she didn't make the rules she just had to follow them if she wanted her Assistant Healer certification. She'd sit her AHC exam and in June she'd be a certified Assistant Healer which meant she could take patients in the emergency room, being the first on hand to determine which healer a patient needed.

She walked into the exam room behind some of the girls in her training group and told herself she'd be fine. She didn't spend days studying for nothing and if she wasn't totally confident, she knew deep down that she had this exam in the bag. Something that was confirmed when she read the first question. She whizzed through the pages, her quill running across the page until she'd finished and was satisfied when she looked up and saw that she was one of the few her were finished so after reading through it once mostly to check for spelling errors, she stuck her hand in the air.

Nate was waiting for her when she left St Mungo's and it put the biggest smile on her face. She'd barely seen him in days she'd been so busy studying but now, she'd done her exam now and the feeling of freedom was fresh.

"How'd it go?" Nate asked as she leaned in to kiss his lips.

"Crushed it," she sung happily.

"Really?" Nate grinned. "I didn't doubt you for a second!"

Marlene laughed, looping her arm through his as they headed out onto the street but a voice called after them.

"Marly! The girls and I were thinking of going for drinks," Maria Matthews, one of Marlene's closer friends within the group, called out after her.

"Oh, well Nate and I were going out for dinner," Marlene said.

Maria waved her off. "Nate can come. We all want to meet this boyfriend of yours!"

Marlene turned to Nate who shrugged and Marlene clapped happily before towing Nate over to Maria.

"Nate this is Maria Matthews. Maria, Nate."

"Nice to meet you," Nate said with a warm smile, a smile Maria reciprocated as they shook hands.

"Come on back inside. We're all flooing into this bar in Diagon Alley. It's the new place to be," Maria rolled her eyes as she walked through the glass concealing St Mungo's. Marlene and Nate hastily followed as to not miss anything Maria was saying. "I think they serve food too so if you're hungry you can order. Oh and Marlene you have to try this cocktail they make! It's called A Discovery of Magic and it is awesome! It literally tastes like magic in your mouth."

"How do you know what magic tastes like?" Marlene quirked her brow.

"Oh I was naive like you once but you will see! Caught her!" Maria declared to the group by the staff only fireplace and Nate took the time to whisper to Marlene, "I swear the only person who talks more than you."

Marlene elbowed him with an amused smile before introducing Nate to her work friends and then they were all off to the new bar called The Underground and it had a speak eazy vibe was Marlene's first thought as she dusted soot off her robes. There were dimly lit booths around the place with a band playing on a slightly elevated stage. A gorgeous mahogany bar stretched against the back wall, the main attraction of the room with its glistening bottles of gold liquid and shining bench top.

Marlene turned to Nate and said in his ear, "Okay I am so in the mood to find out what magic tastes like!"

Nate laughed as Maria looped her arm through Marlene's. "We have got to get drinks! I am ready to get so drunk that I forget all about the AHC. Like I want to get so drunk that I can't even say AHC!"

Marlene agreed earnestly and Nate jibed, "Marls, you'll be in that state after two drinks."

"Oh, you a lightweight honey?" Maria asked her.

"Just a tad."

"She means a lot," Nate corrected.

"Nate," Marlene complained pouting.

"What? It's a good thing," Nate assured her. "It means we spend less money on alcohol for you."

"He presents a good point," Maria said as they reached the bar and ordering three of the cocktails she mentioned earlier.

The three of them chatted happily whilst they waited for their drinks and after paying the bartender they clinked their drinks together. Marlene brought the drink to her lips but froze when she saw a patronus flying towards them. She grabbed Nate's arm tightly and she felt him get alert beside her, putting his drink down on the bar. Maria gave them confused looks and turned around, delight crossing her face as she too spotted the patronus.

"Oh! Someone's gone wild," she laughed happily but the crow patronus stopped in front of them. Ella's voice spilled out and despite the din of the bar, the words rung out crystal clear and Marlene gasped in sorrow, her hand hovering over her mouth.

* * *

James looked at her, "I can. It's me you really want anyways, isn't it?" he asked turning back to Voldemort. "Another heir to a prominent pureblood line."

"Spoiled by the blood of muggles and mudbloods but yes prominent," Voldemort agreed. "Is this my choice then? A mudblood or a spoiled pureblood? What if I want both of you?"

"No," Rosie croaked out and Lily's eyes widened when Rosie pulled out a knife and before anyone could stop her she struck herself low in the stomach. "You'll take neither of them." Rosie looked at her daughter and mouthed, "Run," blood already dripping out of her mouth and Lily was frozen as though everything around her was in slow motion.

James seized the opportunity and before Lily could do anything, James had her hand and was twisting on the spot, her mother's pale face the last thing she saw.

* * *

Lily shut her eyes. This couldn't be real. James was holding her tightly, murmuring 'I'm sorry' like a prayer into her ear and she didn't know if he was saying it to her or praying for forgiveness. It didn't matter. Her mum was dead. No, no, no. She didn't know how this happened. They were eating dinner for god's sake!

"How'd he even know we were both there at that time on this night?" Lily murmured finally pulling back from James to see his face. She was mildly surprised to see his tear ridden face, red and splotchy eyes under his crooked rims but then she supposed, he'd gone through an ordeal too even if it wasn't his mother who had died.

Lily couldn't even understand what her mother was thinking. She just took her own life for something she didn't even understand. Lily had never taken the time to explain to her about the war because she hadn't seen the point but now her mother gave her life to save Lily but she died not knowing from what.

"What?" James asked snapping Lily out of her spiral.

"Voldemort," Lily croaked. "How'd he know we were at my mum's?

"I don't," James shook his head, frowning, "I don't know and how'd he found out where you live?"

"Snape," Lily said darkly but thinking of Snape made Lily think of someone else from her childhood. "Petunia," Lily sighed tiredly. "How am I supposed to explain this to Petunia?"

James pulled her close again and she buried her nose in his neck shutting her eyes tight and wishing she were hugging her mother. "We'll go see her tomorrow. You don't have to do any of this alone."

James made sure he was there every step of the way and though Lily didn't have the room to be thankful for it right now, when the grief for her mother subsided a wave of gratefulness and love would be all she felt towards James. True to his word, they apparated into the small, repetitive and boring suburb that her sister lived in the next morning and he held her steady as her hands trembled. The houses on the street were all the same and Lily couldn't understand how her sister could stand to live such a mundane life but she was also terrified. Terrified of being the one to shatter whatever life Petunia had built here.

"What if she blames me?" Lily asked turning to face James but not looking at his eyes. Instead she stared straight ahead at his chest. They were standing in front of her sister's house — indistinguishable from the others apart from the number on the bare bricks.

James softly knocked her chin up with his fingers, forcing her eyes to his his. "No matter what your sister says or thinks, it is not your fault, Lily." He pulled her into him, wrapping his arms tight around her. He kissed her temple and she shut her eyes trying to hold onto the words that her sister will try so hard to refute.

"Can you say it again?" she whispered as she held onto him.

He kissed her temple again and said, "It's not your fault."

Lily hugged him tightly for a moment before stepping back and looking at the house. "Let's just get this over with then."

Lily walked ahead to the front door, not thinking before knocking knowing that if she stopped to let her thoughts in she'd never find the courage to face her sister. Her sister who opened the door in her night gown, her blonde hair up in curlers and an appropriately stunned look on her face before it turned sour.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily went to open her mouth but the courage she was talking about before seemed to have taken a time out because nothing came out of her mouth. James squeezed her hand and said, "I think it's best we talk inside, Petunia."

Lily was surprised that Petunia didn't fight it. Instead she stepped aside and let them in, leading them to a quaint but perfectly organised living room with pristine floral couches and cream carpets. Lily took in everything. The gleaming coffee table. The photos of a happy couple perched on the fireplace mantle. The box television in the corner.

"What is it then?" Petunia asked and wasn't it sad that Petunia knew this wasn't just a social call?

"I, well, Petunia," Lily started, "There's something I need to tell you."

"Get on with it then. The neighbours will talk if you stay for too long."

Lily ignored the hurtful jibe. "Mum's dead." The words rung out like an endless echo, echoing and echoing for what felt like an eternity in Lily's mind.

"What?" her sister asked.

"Mum is dead. She died."

Lily tore a glance towards Petunia and regretted it. The blame was already there and she hadn't even heard the story.

"How?" Petunia breathed, sitting down onto an armchair.

"An evil wizard came to the house," Lily's leg shook as she tried to hold the tears in and to keep her voice from shaking. "He used mum as leverage to get us to join his side of the war and —"

"And you let him kill her!" Petunia finished the untold story. Petunia never had a temper unless it was Lily on the other side — at least that's how it felt to Lily.

"No," Lily breathed, "I told him I'd go with him and so did James but mum — mum stabbed herself so we wouldn't have to."

"You let our mother stab herself to death so you wouldn't have to join some stupid man!?"

"I didn't let her — it all happened so fast. It happened before I could stop it!"

"Get out. Get out of my house! I don't want to ever see you again!" Petunia shrieked tears crawling down her face.

"I'll organise the funeral at the local church and handle the authorities," Lily told Petunia as she stood. "I'll let you know the details and the day after tomorrow, I'm going back to the house to, well, to pack everything up. I'd like it if you could come."

Sirius and Remus had gone to Lily's house to see what was left and apparently apart from the damage in the kitchen, everything else was in order. They had informed the muggle authorities making an anonymous call from a payphone as Lily had told them to do and they'd taken the body away. Rosie Evans' body now lay in the Cokeworth morgue. Now, all that was left to do with the house, was to pack up her parents belongings and move out so they could sell the place. Lily didn't think she could bare to pack up her home by herself.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Petunia yelled at her. "You were always the favourite! Always and why? You were never here! You were off doing God knows what and now, you've good as killed mum! I don't know what you are but you, you're something from the devil!"

Lily flinched at the harsh words that cut so deep Lily's heart broke for the second time within twenty-four hours. James slipped his arm around Lily and bid goodbye to Petunia, steering Lily out of her sister's house because Lily couldn't see or think or move. That was so much worse than she could have imagined. So much worse than anything Petunia had ever thrown at her. _You're something from the devil_.

"You're not," James said and Lily blinked up at him through her tears.

"What?"

"You're not from the devil." For the second time that day, James pulled Lily into a hug, hugging her tightly and smoothing her hair. "And it's not your fault."

* * *

Ella rolled over in bed to see Sirius was gone — a rare occurrence. She glanced back at the clock and frowned. It was only seven thirty, a time Sirius barely saw unless he was up for a mission. Ella rolled out of bed, taking the quilt with her and headed out into the living room where Sirius was fiddling with his bike.

He didn't notice her coming in and she leaned against the archway staring at him with a soft smile on her face before calling his name quietly.

He looked up at her, their eyes locking intensely before he tore his gaze away again and she'd be lying if she didn't admit that it hurt that he could be so dismissive.

"Are we going to talk about it?"

"About what?"

Ella looked away herself now, if only to regain composure of her face. "You know what." She turned back to him and she hitched the quilt tighter around her when he wouldn't even look at her.

"I don't think now is the right time to talk about this." He concentrated on his bike, twisting something or other.

"Well when will it ever be?" Ella snapped. This wasn't just something they could avoid. This was a baby. "Can you look at me, please?"

He finished screwing something in on his bike before dropping the wrench so it clanged loudly on the floor and he stood up, his eyes boring into hers as if to say, "well".

"Can you not drop it like that!" Ella snapped again annoyed at the careless way he dropped something so heavy onto hardwood floors and the tips of anger flicking at her. He was acting so blaissez about the whole thing as though this wouldn't change their entire life. She'd seen him be like this before. To his brother and about his family — the Blacks. She never thought she'd be lumped in with them though.

"Oh bugger off. I'm the one paying the god damned rent."

"Yeah and I pay for everything else! I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from damaging the floors!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at her. "I can have it fixed with a wave of my wand now did you really crawl out of bed to yell at me about the floor?"

"No actually, I have work in an hour," Ella said not wanting him to think she woke up because of him. If he was going to be blaissez so could she.

"Lily's mum died yesterday," Sirius said astonished with judgement seeping through as though Ella had forgotten, as though she hadn't sat with Lily for hours whilst she cried.

"Yes I know that but life doesn't just stop."

"Don't you think we should go see if they're okay?"

"Lily has James and I have work. I'll visit her at night. James said Mrs Potter is serving dinner at eight so everyone can make it after _work_."

"But it's Lily and her mum died." He seemed genuinely confused about why Ella was still going into work and honestly it made her so, so mad. Why couldn't he just accept the fact that she had a job?

"Merlin, Sirius! Yes! Lily's mum died and it's all very sad and tragic! I know! But I still have a job to go to! Marlene's still going to work, Alice is still going to work and I am still going to work! What do you care so much about Lily's mum for anyways! You don't even care about your own!"

"That's got nothing to do with it!" Sirius snapped. "Mrs Evans was a lovely lady and Lily is hurt."

"Of course she's hurt! Her mum just died! But she's not going to be okay for a while! This isn't something me skipping work for a day can fix, Sirius, so I don't understand why you're haranguing me about going to work! In fact, I don't understand why you're haranguing me at all about Lily's mum dying when we have our own problems!"

"Like what?" Sirius shouted.

"Are you fucking with me right now?" She could feel her face heating up, the anger like tentacles wrapped around her. She was too hot, it was too hot in here. She threw off the quilt onto the couch and glared at Sirius. "Like what? Did you actually just ask me that? There is an entire baby inside of me and you have the audacity to question whether we as a couple have problems?"

"Well, you're unlikely to have half a baby inside of you."

"You're making jokes now," Ella threw up her hands, clapping in mock excitement. "Great. Fantastic! Look at you go! Avoid, avoid, avoid but let's crack a joke!"

"Can you quit nagging me about this! I don't even — I haven't even had time to process and you're acting like you're going to have it tomorrow! We've nine months to sort this out."

"Five and a half months," Ella cut in. "I'm three and a half months in. Not that you asked or, you know, care. Do you even want a baby?"

"You know the answer to that already."

"Yes but that was-"

"A year ago?" Sirius cut her off with a deadly glare that he usually reserved for Slytherins and Ella found herself wondering when she became the enemy. "My answer hasn't changed."

Ella rolled her eyes. "Yes okay teenage you who hated anything grown up and hated his parents didn't want kids. But _you_ now. Now that this is real, do you want this baby?"

"You act like a year is some great time for growth or something that now because we're finished school I'm supposed to be 'grown up' and what suddenly want kids? Kids were never in the picture for me! I don't want them! And newsflash, we are still teenagers! Nine- _teen_! Teen. Teenager! See how that works!"

"Yeah well, this is just one kid and it's yours so what do you want to do about it? Teenager or not." They stared each other down in the middle of the living room. "You can walk, if that's what you really want to do but I'm keeping this baby with or without you and if you walk …This kid won't know you as dad," Ella decided on the spot. "If you walk it's the end of us and I'll sue you for custody." Maybe she was being harsh but she wanted him to know that he couldn't just bail on her — on them! — And come back whenever he felt like it. If he bailed, he bailed for good. "You'll never be a part of our lives again."

"Our?" he asked confused and then realisation. "Right you and the, uh, the-"

"The baby," Ella finished for him sharply. "It's not a dirty word, Sirius. Do you want this?"

Sirius wracked both his hands through his hair. "That's not fair. You can't just get me to decide like this on the spot before I've even had time to process this! This isn't fair for you to just expect me to suddenly want kids just because you're pregnant! I told you I didn't want kids and it was something I thought we agreed on!"

"We've had one conversation about kids, Sirius. Just the one and for Merlin's sake Sirius I assumed that somewhere down the line when we weren't eighteen and stupid that we'd change our minds and do the stuff that normal couples do!"

"There you go, expecting me to grow up again!"

"I'm not expecting you to do anything, Sirius! Growing up just happens! We've all got to grow up at some bloody point!"

"So that's it, you're pregnant and now you're all grown up and you can have a kid? Just like that you're ready?"

"Not just like that!" Ella said. "I am terrified. I was when I found out and I still am but, she fished the ultrasound photo out of her pyjama pocket and showed it to him. "That's a baby in me. So tiny and miraculous and it's ours. Half me, half you and I love him or her or whatever this baby grows to be. I love it and it's like nothing I've ever felt before," Ella told him with a small smile, one hand on her tummy the other still holding the photo.

Sirius' eyes were transfixed to the photo and for the first time, Ella felt a glimmer of hope but Sirius tore his eyes away and strode to his bike. "Yeah, well, I was never good at love." The door opened on it's own letting in a gust of cool air and Sirius strode out, bike in tow, the door closing behind him with a soft click.

* * *

James brought Lily back to Seaside Estate where his mum had graciously allowed them to share a room after a stern look and, "I doubt this is anywhere near either of your minds but just be safe."

"Be safe?" James echoed confused because Euphemia was right and it was far from his mind.

"Yes. Protection spells and the like. I won't have you making me a grandmother before you're married."

"Mum," James whined, his cheeks going pink and his only saving grace was that Lily was still asleep in James' bedroom in the morning when this unfortunate conversation occurred.

Lily had missed Euphemia all together last night. They'd flooed straight into the living room from Headquarters but Euphemia and Fleamont had been in their bedroom, already sleeping. James had requested Twinky to bring up some tea because it was a difficult time and they were British.

They'd sat up in bed, Lily curled into James as they cupped their steaming cups of peppermint and she fretted and cried and worst of all, tried to blame what had happened on her.

"My sister's going to say that this never would have happened if I weren't a witch," Lily sniffed. "And for the first time, she's going to be right. She blamed my being a witch for everything. For us not being as close as we were and for her hair not turning out right and for the flowers blooming in the middle of winter. But she was never right. We weren't as close as we were before because she shut me out and her hair didn't turn out right because the hair dryer broke and the flowers only bloomed in the middle of winter because that was the year dad built a mini greenhouse in the backyard. But this," she shook her head, "This only could have been prevented if I weren't a witch."

"I don't believe that for a second. If you weren't a witch who's to say you wouldn't be headlining the Daily Prophet right now as one of those random muggle families attacked and murdered by Death Eaters for sport? Who's to say the Ministry wouldn't be covering up your death to a gas leak or whatever usual bullshit they spread to the muggle authorities? You being a witch, saved your life. I'm just sorry that it couldn't save your mum too."

"It doesn't make any sense but I miss her already but not enough time has passed to miss her yet but I do. My whole heart aches, James."

James held her until she fell asleep wishing he could take her pain for her and he stayed awake long after she'd fallen asleep, his brain turning and turning. Wondering how Voldemort could have known that both James and Lily would be at the Evans house that night. True dinner had become a sort of regular occurrence, a tradition even, at the Evanses on Friday or Sunday night depending on their schedules, but only their friends would have noticed and known. Only their friends would have known that this week they'd chosen Sunday night. Unless they were being watched. That made James even more uneasy. Were they being watched because of Bellatrix? She had warned him that Lily's family would be next. Was this his fault? The question plagued him until he too had fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning.

Lily looked lost as James led her back into the house now and he wondered if perhaps she needed more sleep. She'd tossed about the night before so even though she'd slept longer than James he knew it wasn't restful. She was usually so still when she slept only shifting occasionally.

"Oh my sweet girl," Euphemia burst out of the drawing room and enveloped Lily in a huge, motherly hug. "I'm so glad you're all right and I'm terribly sorry about your mother. She was a lovely woman."

"T-thanks for letting me stay," Lily sobbed clutching Euphemia back and it was all James could do to keep his own tears from falling.

"None of that," Euphemia leaned back to look Lily in the eyes, "You're family. You'd be welcome to stay even if you suddenly realised you were too good for my no good son."

Lily laughed through her tears before breaking down again and Euphemia pulled her into another hug. Euphemia extended an arm to James and waved him over. James joined the hug and the three of them stood, hugging in the middle of the foyer for what felt like a frozen moment in time until Lily stopped sobbing.

"Oh, I've blubbed all over your robes," Lily frowned inspecting Euphemia's blush robes.

"Never mind that. Now, we're going to go sit out on the terrace. I don't want you shutting yourself up in the house. You need fresh air and sun to help you heal … and lots of chocolate ice cream I think. James, why don't you two go ahead and I'll see what I can scrounge up in the kitchen." It was more of an order, James knew. Euphemia was giving them a few minutes before she barely let Lily out of her sight.

"Mum's going to hover today, she's going to insist on all sorts of things that she believes helps to heal the soul like sun and ice cream and looking at the stars."

"It's not the most orthodox thing to do in the muggle world but honestly sunshine and ice cream sounds perfect right now."

James wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him and kissing her temple. "One more thing, Lils. What mum said before about you being family … she's right. You _are_ family. You're my family. I love you, Lily and I know that this is about your mum but I just want you to know without doubt that you're not alone. You have us and you have me. All of me."

Lily nodded, sniffling her nose and she wrapped her arms around his torso as they walked to the terrace so she was hugging him from the side. "I love you, too, James."

* * *

Marlene was adding notes to a patients chart in a break room when Maria sat down opposite her with a bottle of orange juice and a sandwich wrapped in plastic. She slid across both the orange juice and the sandwich over to Marlene and they stopped just in front of the chart.

"What's this for?"

"Marls, you've been in here for hours fixing patient charts. It's not like you!"

"Healer Bodie asked me to do some charts."

"You requested if you could fix her charts."

Marlene clicked her tongue. "How'd you find out?"

Maria shrugged. "Asked around. Now are you going to tell me why you've locked yourself up in here and what it has to do with that patronus last night?"

"What patronus last night?"

"Don't act dumb. I saw it last night. It faced you and it looked as though it was telling you something and whatever it told you wasn't good."

Marlene scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Patronuses don't talk much less give bad news. That patronus was obviously cast by someone who'd drunk too much."

"Then why'd you scarper so quickly after that? And what's the matter with you now?"

Marlene sighed. Maria would only go away if she told Maria something substantial and she obviously couldn't explain about the patronus Ella had sent so that left the other thing. "A friend of mine … her mother died." It was as truthful as she could get without getting into the messy details of the Order and Voldemort and besides Marlene couldn't say anything about it even if she wanted to.

"Oh, that's terrible! How'd she pass?"

"A muggle illness. My friend is muggle-born."

"I'm so sorry for your friend … I can cover for you if you want to skip out an hour early."

Marlene started to decline but then stopped herself. "That would be so nice. Are you sure though?"

Maria waved Marlene off. "Go. I'll say you weren't feeling well."

"Thank you so much!" Marlene gushed. "Honestly, I owe you one!"

Maria shrugged with a small smile on her face and said, "Maybe one day you'll tell me the truth about how your friend's mother died and about the patronus."

"I have," Marlene said.

Maria winked, "Sure you did. You better go before someone comes looking for you."

Marlene left the room not sure what else she could say to convince Maria of Marlene's obvious lies. With her newfound freedom Marlene went home to shower but as she walked up to her house she spotted Nate sitting up in his window and he spotted her.

"Romeo, Romeo, where art thou, Romeo?"

Marlene rolled her eyes but grinned. "It's ' _wherefore_ art thou, Romeo?' you idiot."

"I wasn't expecting for another hour."

Marlene leaned against his fence. "Maria's covering for me."

"Your mum know to expect you?"

Marlene shook her head before yelping as Nate swung himself fully out the window and onto the small roof that jutted out under his window.

"What are you doing?" Marlene hissed. "You're going to fall and break your neck!"

Nate waved her off as he climbed down the side of his house, using the bricks as foot and hand holds. He dropped softly onto the grass and hopped over the fence.

"What'd you do that for?" Marlene asked. "You've a front door you know-"

But Nate cut her off with a kiss. "My family thinks I'm in my room. Yours thinks you're still at work."

"Oh."

Marlene grinned as Nate took her hand and they both started running from their houses and Marlene didn't have to ask where they were going. She recognised the way to the small park that edged onto a small wood. As kids they'd always been forbidden to go into the woods. As young teens they'd dared each other to go in fearing childish monsters and as young adults, the monsters turned out to be just trees and an awfully good place if you didn't want to be found.

They settled against one of the larger trees, Marlene with her back pressed to Nate's chest and her head resting on his shoulder with his arms wrapped around her and their hands clasped together.

"I haven't felt like this in a while," she murmured.

"What?" Nate asked.

"I don't know. No one's waiting on us. No one ready to burst in. No keeping the door open."

Nate chuckled at the last one. "Just a bunch of trees."

Marlene nodded and they both fell quiet to enjoy the moment but Marlene's mind wandered off on its own tangent.

"How do you think Dumbledore chooses who gets to join the Order?" Marlene asked.

"That's random."

"No, I know," Marlene sighed. "It's just sometimes I wonder why he picked us, you know? I mean apart from going to meetings, we haven't really done anything. Lily's got her mission and so do the boys and all I ever do is patch up someone's bumps and bruises. I just," she shrugged, "I don't know why he picked us."

"Somewhere down the line, you'll have to go on missions, Marls, and when you've almost died or end up in Mungo's you'll be wishing for the time when all you did was go to meetings and heal someone's bumps and bruises."

"But don't you ever wonder why?"

"Why what?"

"Why he chose us and not just me and you but all of us? I mean we're just out of Hogwarts what use could we be?"

"I don't know," Nate unhelpfully supplied. "I suppose he's got a plan for all of us. I mean maybe you're just meant to be a healer for the Order so we don't have to go to Mungo's. Maybe I'm supposed to just tell Dumbledore of new muggle-borns so that we can better protect their families. I think we've all got our part however big or small."

Marlene on some level agreed but she wanted to know how Dumbledore's mind worked, what his plans were. It had been eight months since they had all joined and Marlene couldn't see any change in this war. Voldemort still grew stronger by day and now, Lily's mum had died for something that didn't even make sense.

"It's weird that Voldemort wanted Lily to join, isn't it?" Marlene asked.

"It is but," Nate hesitated.

"But what? Do you think it's Snape?"

"I mean maybe?" he said unsurely. "And Mulciber."

"Who? Dominique?"

"No Francis. They work together, Mulciber's waiting around for whatever Lovegood wants to create and Lily's there making sure that whatever Lovegood creates doesn't end up in Mulciber's hands but to do that, they've become friends-"

"Fake friends," Marlene cut in.

"Yes but he doesn't know that even with the truth potion stunt. Lily said under veritaserum that she wasn't in the Order. Now, maybe Voldemort wants her because Mulciber would have relayed to him that Lily is exceptionally close with her mentor, Alexina Lovegood. I mean, Lily's in the perfect position to steal notes and the likes from Lovegood something that could be valuable to Voldemort. Not to mention her boyfriend stole something from him, something he seems to want badly."

Marlene understood what he was saying but still … "She's a muggle-born. It doesn't make sense. He was probably just going to use her for something and then get rid of her." The realisation made Marlene sick to her stomach so she changed the subject to lighter topics like the latest annoyances in her cousin's most recent phone call. They chatted quietly and uninterruptedly for two hours before they went home — Nate sneaking back up to his open window and Marlene entering her home as though she had only finished work an hour ago.

They both showered and dressed before meeting up again to head to the Potters for dinner and to see Lily.

* * *

Lily walked into the front door of the empty house not knowing how she was meant to say goodbye. This was where she'd grown up and whilst she had a second home at Hogwarts this had always been _home_. Hogwarts had been filled with petty dramas and fights but here she'd always had unconditional love from her parents.

There was a creak from upstairs. A door opening and within a second Lily and James' wands were out and aimed up the stairs only to fall again when they saw Petunia.

"Sorry," Lily apologised. "We didn't know you were here yet."

"Thank you for dropping Lily off James but I think it's best you go."

"If that's what Lily wants," James said graciously.

"No, he's staying," Lily said to her sister before turning to James, "Please stay."

"Whatever you need," James assured her, taking her hand and squeezing.

Petunia made a sound of disapproval and Lily clucked her tongue, annoyed.

"What is it, Petunia?"

"He doesn't belong here. He didn't know our parents!"

"He knew mum plenty," Lily shouted, "He was willing to pledge himself to the most evil man alive to save mum."

"Funny that she's still dead."

"Can we just please pack the house up without fighting?" Lily asked crossly.

"It's just, if I knew you were bringing him I'd have asked Vernon."

"I never said you couldn't bring Vernon. He is … family." The word sounded too strong but he was Petunia's husband.

"Yes, well it's a Tuesday and he's working. I suppose James doesn't have a job."

"I do actually. I asked for the week off. It'll be a trying week with planning a funeral and Lily moving in."

"Moving in?" Petunia asked sharply.

"I'm moving into James' parents house until, I don't know," Lily sighed running a hand through her hair. "Until I figure out where to go from here."

James wrapped an arm around her and assured her that there was no stress about her staying with him at his parents house. "My parents love you and they've been bored since Sirius moved out."

"I know but it's not a permanent solution," Lily reiterated as she had several times over the past two days. Had it only been two days?

"We'll worry about permanent later."

"So you're not staying in the house?" Petunia asked seemingly surprised.

"Well no, that's why we're packing it up."

"I thought you just meant mum's things."

"Oh, no, I just assumed we'd be selling the house and without mum here," Lily swallowed hard. "It's too hard to stay besides my job is in London and from James' I can floo right into the Ministry."

"Yes, well, staying was never your biggest strong point."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James retorted.

"It means every year she got on a train and we'd never see her for nine months out of the year."

"You mean she was going to school."

"I mean she left."

"You know, personally, I could be wrong, I find it funny how personally you take Lily's schooling. Surely boarding schools are something even muggles have? Actually don't answer that because I know you do because I overheard your brute husband telling his relatives that Lily goes to a special boarding school for girls who are a bit, I think his words were, 'dim witted'."

"James," Lily said softly, "You don't have to-"

"Defend you? You're right I don't but I want to because frankly," at this James turned to Petunia, "you treat Lily like shit. My own mates treat Lily like more of a sister than I've ever seen you. And why? Because she's different? Because she has magic and you don't? Because she's everything you're not?"

Lily could feel it fatal blow. The one Petunia used for anything bad that had happened to their family and Lily could feel it coming now. She could see it all over Petunia's face. The thin lips pinched together, her icy eyes on fire. How many times had Lily seen that look right before Petunia slashed at her heart? "Because she's a freak!" It wasn't even the worst thing Lily had ever been called. Freak was pretty tame for an insult but Petunia had used it so much since Lily had gotten her letter that it cut deeper than anything else.

"So what if she is! She's your sister! She could have two heads, eight arms and four legs and she still wouldn't deserve how you've treated her."

"James, why don't we start packing up the living room. Petunia you can start with mum and dad's room." Lily towed James into the living room before Petunia responded and found herself apologising. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because you were saying things I've been thinking my entire life and I just — I'm not mad at you. I just don't want to fight today. I want to pack up the house and go home."

James pulled her into a tight hug, stroking her hair softly. "Everyone's coming to dinner again but if you're not up to it."

"No, no, let them come. It's nice having family around." It was funny that word. Family. For a person who was technically family by marriage it felt too strong and yet for the friends she'd grown up with, family felt just the right word.


	34. Chapter 33: Pacts and Packs

Lily walked over to Petunia, standing in front of their parents' graves. The service had been nice, well, as nice as a funeral service could be. They had her mother's favourite flowers — lilies and petunias — on top of the coffin and Petunia had read out a sweet eulogy that had Lily in tears. At the small Cokeworth cemetery, the sun beat down on them as Rosie Evans was lowered into the ground next to her husband and Lily had felt it, that finality. It would be well and truly over now. This was it and she didn't know if she could do it.

"This is the last time we're going to see each other, isn't it?" Lily asked quietly, breaking the silence. Merlin, knew Petunia wouldn't.

"That would seem to be for the best," Petunia agreed and Lily's heart broke as her fears were confirmed. She wasn't only saying goodbye to her mum today. She was saying goodbye to the very first family she had. She was the last Evans. "But perhaps an exchange of Christmas gifts would be acceptable."

Lily looked up at her sister, "Really?"

"Via post of course," Petunia said, smoothing out her dress before looking at Lily. "But yes. Pleasantries at Christmas."

Lily knew Petunia wouldn't particularly like a hug — she wasn't a hugger — but if this was the last time she would see Petunia for a while, well, Lily wanted a hug. So she surprised her sister by wrapping her arms tightly around her. Petunia was frozen for a moment before wrapping her arms lightly around Lily and patting her awkwardly on the back.

Lily stepped back and with a soft smile said, "Goodbye, Petunia."

"Goodbye, Lily."

Lily turned and saw James waiting for her, their friends waiting just behind him and walking away felt just that much easier.

* * *

He'd been avoiding her since their last fight in their flat. He'd been staying at the Potter's and though Euphemia tried to ask him about it, this was one thing he couldn't tell her. He couldn't tell Euphemia that he'd gotten Ella pregnant. He just couldn't not when he didn't know what he wanted.

He was even avoiding Ella right at this very moment. Hiding out in his old room whilst everyone was downstairs having an afternoon tea after Lily's mum's funeral. He wanted to be down there for Lily, he did but he just couldn't bare looking at Ella and down at her stomach where she was surely hiding a small bump with baggy robes. It was too much.

He wasn't ready for kids and he'd known that he'd never wanted them. Not when he was twenty or thirty or forty. He didn't want kids. Why would he want another person in the world to disappoint? Why would he want to run the risk of being burned by love even if it was from his own child? He'd screw it up somehow. That's who he was. He screwed up with Moony and Prongs and Wormtail. He screwed up with his own family. He screwed up everything and this would just be one more thing he could screw up.

The door opened and James poked his head in. "Lily sent me up to check on you. She thinks you've been avoiding Ella."

Perceptive little wench, Sirius thought with a hint of bitterness and pride. Sirius just shrugged.

"I think you are too."

Asshole, Sirius thought but he didn't say anything.

"Are you going to talk to me about it or are you just going to sit and sulk?"

"Sit and sulk," Sirius replied.

"What happened?" James pressed. "Did you guys have a fight? Because you two always fight so I'm sure whatever it is, you'll work it out."

Another reason why they shouldn't have a kid together. They weren't exactly the poster couple for world's happiest couple. If anyone should be having a kid it should be James and Lily, or Marlene and Nate, or hell, Alice and Frank — they were even married! But no, the universe decided to knock up Ella.

"You there?" James waved a hand in front of Sirius' face. "Come on, just tell me what's up."

Sirius groaned. "Ella's pregnant."

"She's what now?"

"Pregnant. With child. Bun in the freaking oven. Pregnant," Sirius repeated. Sirius rolled his eyes at James' shell-shocked face and fell onto his bed staring up at the ceiling. "I mean, what the actual living fuck right? What universe, deity, greater power or whatever the fuck controls this shit decided that out of all the couples to give a kid to, Ella and I would be the best suited? Like honestly! Honestly what the ever fucking fuck! And then she decides she wants to keep it and I can either get on board or get out of her — no _their_ — lives after giving me like a fucking day to process! And I don't know what the fuck to do!"

"I — is she sure she's pregnant?"

"I wouldn't have been avoiding her all week if she wasn't."

"Yeah but has she been to see a heal — wait, what? She told you she's pregnant and you've been avoiding her ever since? Sirius, what the fuck?"

Sirius dragged a hand down his face, "Well what the fuck am I supposed to do? What if it was Lily? What would you do?"

"I don't know, maybe not avoid her for a week!"

Sirius groaned this is what he was talking about. He's not good at this stuff. He's not built for families. "Well, Merlin, James! She told me and then less then twenty-four hours later she was giving me a fucking ultimatum."

"And what'd you say?"

"I didn't say anything, I came here."

"You're an idiot. She's pregnant with _your_ child!"

"So? It's hers too! And she's gone all fucking gooey on me talking about how much she loves the kid already and that she just _knows_ that we'll be okay having a kid and just expecting me to be all okay with this! I'm not fucking okay with this!"

"So what? You're going to abandon her and the kid? You really wanna let your kid grow up without knowing you?"

"I don't know," Sirius said and he propped himself up on his elbows, "Maybe it's better that way."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, I'm not parent material. It means, I don't want to be a parent. I never did."

James frowned. "Well shit."

"Shit in-fucking-deed. So what's your master plan for getting me out of this one?"

James ran a hand through his hair but was saved from answering by a knock on the door.

"Sirius, it's me," Ella said through the door. "I know you've been avoiding me but can we please talk?"

James looked at Sirius who shook his head but James gestured to the door and said, "Step one." James opened the door and Ella looked surprised and then embarrassed.

"Oh, James. Hello."

"Hey," James, the prat, greeted. "He's all yours."

Ella stepped in as James stepped out and the door shut behind her softly. "So James knows then?"

"Ah, just told him. He asked and I just needed someone-"

"Relax, babe I'm not angry at you for telling your best friend. If I didn't have Marls I'd be going crazy."

"Marlene knows?"

"She does."

Sirius nodded. So four people knew about this little life he and Ella had somehow created. Sirius didn't say anymore so Ella started talking, telling him about due dates (August 16) and how the Healer would be able to tell them the gender in a few weeks and how she picked up a few baby books in Diagon Alley before sighing and, "Could you at least tell me if you're happy about it? Even if it's just some tiny minuscule part of you?"

"Happy about it? How can I be happy about bringing a person into this shit world?"

"You don't mean that!"

"Don't I? You of all people, Ella, you should understand why I don't want this! How could you still want this after what your dad did to you? After what my parents did to me?"

"Because we aren't going to be those kind of parents!"

"Damn right because I'm not going to be a parent at all!"

"Is that your decision then?"

"I — yes."

"Liar," Ella called his bluff and damn her to hell for being right. "You want this, I can see it on your face but you're being a god damned coward."

"You don't understand! I can't do this!"

"What? Love and care for a child? Your child!"

"Yes! All my life, family has only brought me pain and this feels like just setting myself and this child up for disappointment."

"James, Mrs and Mr Potter brought you pain?"

"It's not the same."

"Bullshit! Bull-fucking-shit! You better think about whether your fear is worth losing me and this baby for."

Sirius watched as Ella walked away this time and _fuck, fuck, fuck_. He didn't really have a choice did he?

* * *

Marlene sat in the gallery of the Healing Theatre watching as healers attempted to save the life of a nine year old girl who'd had the cruciatus curse used on her for at least, five minutes. It was heartbreaking that that wasn't the most heartbreaking fact of the night. Too add to the tragedy, to the horrendous cruelty that this little girl suffered, her mother lay motionless in an intensive care room, in a coma. Healers were battling against a dark curse that had sliced off her father's hand, a curse preventing the blood from clotting enough so they could heal it. He was slowly bleeding out in the Healing Theatre over. Her little brother was spewing crazy nonsense no one could understand and the Head of Injuries from the Dark Arts suspected some sort of curse, maybe even an Imperius curse gone wrong.

They were supposed to be learning through observation, at least, that's what the gallery was for but Marlene's heart was pounding in her head and all she could do was watch with hopeful thoughts that the little girl would pull through. It wasn't fair that someone so small was suffering and Marlene wondered yet again if there wasn't anything more she could be doing for the Order.

"It's frightening what they can do," Steven Socha, a resident healer, said. He was a serious fellow and Marlene always felt she could ask him questions without being judged. He was a few years older than most resident healers since he decided a few years of travelling were in order before he settled down and whilst travelling usually made people more carefree it seemed to have done the opposite for Steven. Steven was focused, organised and incredibly smart.

"Terribly," Maria agreed. "I don't know why the Ministry isn't doing anything more."

"Forget the Ministry. What about Dumbledore? He stopped Grindelwald. Some say he was the only one who could. I don't see why he can't stop this one. He isn't half as powerful as Grindelwald was when Dumbledore defeated him."

Marlene pursed her lips. If only they knew there was a whole organisation being led by Dumbledore but she did wonder at his hesitation. Steven did have a point about Voldemort not having reached his peak and with all logic, if Dumbledore should confront him now, surely he'd win, wouldn't he?

"We shouldn't have to rely on Dumbledore. He's nothing to do with the Ministry and I always found it weird that the Ministry doesn't have an army. Just the auror department and hit wizards."

Marlene snorted, "What's that equivalent to? The police and a SWAT team. I never thought about the fact we don't have a wizarding army. I suppose we don't have the numbers to always have one."

Steven frowned, "An army?"

"Yeah," Maria confirmed. "In the muggle world, each government has its own army to protect the country against outside or inside threats. They'd typically deal with the equivalent of this."

"Would you fight?" Marlene asked. "If there was an army?"

Maria huffed, "If girls were even allowed to join. I'd probably be reduced to an army healer. Steven could go on the field though. That'd be fun being right in the thick of things."

"I think fun is a little strong." Marlene remembered how it had felt sitting in the waiting room to hear about her friend's families. It had been the worst night of her life thus far and she hadn't even seen the terror that had occurred.

"It would just be, I don't know, an experience," Maria shrugged. "I'd always wondered what it was like in World War Two, on the battlefield."

"It was death and pain and destruction," Marlene said. "Not much different from this war except it's happening in people's homes in secret."

That was the thing about this war. There were no rules, no lines drawn, no borders to guard. The enemy was within, free to torment and torture as they saw fit. A wasp of smoke that nobody was trained to contain. Anyone could fight, experience or no. Anyone could die, deserving or no.

"So you wouldn't fight then?" Maria asked Marlene.

She looked down at the three healers working over the little girl who seemed to be close to consciousness now. She was writhing and whimpering on the table and Marlene's heart called out.

"I didn't say that. Of course I would fight." She already was. "It just wasn't something I ever wanted to experience."

"You said that in the past tense," Maria caught.

"What?" Marlene said.

"You said 'it wasn't something I ever wanted'. That's past tense. Is that the big secret then? You've found a way to fight?" She sounded almost hopeful.

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Don't be ridiculous. I just got a little tongue twisted. I have been up all night you know."

Maria scrutinised Marlene for an excruciating minute before turning to Steven. "What about you then? Would you fight if the Ministry had an army?"

"Yeah, I would if it meant all this stopped just that much sooner. How do armies even work?"

Maria launched into an explanation, talking about how people usually volunteered and received training and a salary for their time but how during time of war, people were conscripted. Marlene tuned out all of that talk as it led to a discussion on the muggle world wars and wondered, seriously wondered, if she should suggest to Dumbledore to invite Maria, and even Steven, into the Order.

Despite her nosy nature into Marlene's business, Marlene got the vibe as though Maria was hoping Marlene was secretly fighting against Voldemort. Maria herself said she'd fight in an army and the Order, well, it wasn't an army but it was as close as the wizarding world had to one. Wasn't that something? A group of degenerates — of trainees, reporters, Ministry employees, Quidditch players, store owners — led by the school's Headmaster was the closest thing to an army against Voldemort. This 'army' of sorts could use a few more healers, Marlene considered.

How did one even go about talking to Dumbledore about that? Was it even done or was Nate right in saying that Dumbledore chose specific people to carry out specific parts of some grand plan that apparently only he was privy to? So maybe she didn't go straight to Dumbledore. Maybe she started with someone a bit higher up but still in a leadership position. Moody. He was terrifying though and Marlene wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't bit her head off about some sort of constant vigilance lecture if she proposed bringing more people into the Order. Someone a little lower than, someone more of a friend but knew more about how the Order worked.

Then it hit her. Emmeline. Alice's sweet, older sister who had suggested to Dumbledore they turn to Hogwarts alumni for new recruits. Yes, Marlene decided, Emmeline was the safest bet and so she vowed to talk to Emmeline about it at the next meeting.

"Something's wrong," Steven inched forward in his seat and so did the girls.

The little girl, Anna Kypreos, was convulsing so strongly the healers couldn't hold her down. One of them waved her wand over her and she fell still but the three healers all looked nervous, almost scared. One touched two fingers to the girls neck and shouted, waving his wand over the girl's heart in an all to familiar pattern.

It was one of their first classes — resuscitation. He was performing the resuscitation spell and by the looks of it, it wasn't going well because a moment later, he chucked his wand aside and tried the muggle way, pumping into her tiny body, trying to bring her back but it was no use. The healer slumped his shoulders and pronounced Anna Kypreos dead at six forty-two in the morning despite trying to save her life for the last six hours.

* * *

They'd been reduced to secret chats whilst Lily left the room. None of them knew what to do with the knowledge they now had and the knowledge they didn't have. The recipients of the fatal potion was clear but not how they intended to distribute it. They knew neither when or where and were at a loss at how to protect people from this. Every morning they scrounged through the Daily Prophet just to make sure that no one, muggle or wizard, had suffered from the potion. It hadn't seemed like they'd used it yet.

"It has to be soon though, right?" Peter said for the millionth time. "They wouldn't inoculate people if it wasn't soon."

"Yeah but there was only like what five hundred people at that wedding," Sirius considered. "Maybe there are a few more families they want before they start."

"Like who?"

"The Vance's, the Prewett's, the Weasley's, Meadowes', Shackelbolt's. There are so many pure-blood families that aren't on the Sacred Twenty-Eight," James told them.

"Like your family," Lily popped into the room and James winced.

"Couldn't find mum?"

Lily shook her head. "What are you guys on about?"

The four boys glanced at each other before James sighed. He couldn't and shouldn't keep this from her. She had every right to know.

"Remus and Peter found these in Malfoy's place on their mission last Sunday." James handed her the pages and Lily's eyes wracked over them, her hands shuffling the pages around, eyes widening as she speed read.

"You waited a week to come to me about this? This is Snape's handwriting and for god's sake I'm the best at Potions out of the lot of you!"

"We didn't want to worry you," Peter defended. "With your, er, mum and all."

"That's very sweet Peter, but I'm less concerned with my mourning period and more concerned with thwarting whatever backwards plans this bastard has set in motion." Lily glanced down at the pages, pulling them closer to her face, her mind whizzing as she read the recipe.

"It was protected, poorly," Remus said. "Couldn't touch them but I could duplicate them without transferring the shocking jinx."

"Still using his old tricks," Lily muttered. "He made that spell to stop his mother from going through his stuff in fourth year."

"He created that jinx!" Peter's jaw dropped. "It's so strong it flung me into a wall."

"Well, they definitely didn't want anyone going through that."

"Wormy's exaggerating. He was a rat at the time. I think if a person touched it, it'd be equivalent to a shock of some sort."

"This recipe," Lily shook her head, "If taken, it'll be fatal."

"We thought as much. The antidote recipe said people attending the wedding would be inoculated, but I don't understand why they would need inoculating against their own poison. They couldn't be stupid enough to take it themselves."

"No," Lily breathed, "No but they're smart enough to know a way to spread this across an entire city within twenty-four hours."

"What do you mean?"

"It all makes sense! Why Mulciber is interested in Lovegood's spell. It makes sense — I mean this is exactly what Meadowes and Gideon were scared of and if this spell is any indication — Lovegood can never succeed. I need to get to Meadowes, see if she can shut this project down before Lovegood gets any further that's the only way to be certain that Mulciber doesn't get what they need to make this possible."

"All this rambling is really cute but can you get to the part where you tell us what you lot are trying to concoct in that lab?" Sirius cut in.

"It's a spell, a charm that'll make a potion airbourne. The way Lovegood intends it to be used is for medical emergencies. Like an outbreak of the flu or other sicknesses, just make a batch of potion and spread it hospital wide, Ministry wide, city wide and you'll be wiping out the outbreak within a day or two. But-"

"Are you saying that if they get their hands on this spell and this potion they could wipe out everyone except for elitist pure-bloods who are conveniently inoculated?" James cut in.

"Well shit," Remus remarked.

"Bad time to fall out with the family, Pads," Peter commented.

"Yeah but we have the antidote we can just recreate it and-"

"We can't inoculate every single person in London," Lily cut in. "Besides we don't even know where they want to use it. They could want to use it at Hogwarts, at the Ministry, Diagon Alley. It's impossible to know."

"Okay but we can start with Order members. Make it, distribute it out so they can pass it out to their friends and family. I mean, it isn't everyone but it's a start, right?" Peter asked.

"Better than only having Voldemort's supporters immune to it," James agreed.

"I don't understand how they could intend to use it. If they use this, it can wipe out most of London to apocalyptic levels. There'll be hardly anyone left."

"Except for them to pick up the pieces," Sirius said darkly.

"No, we start with what Peter said. We make the antidote distribute it to members of the Order, tell them to discreetly sneak it to their friends and family and hope that we can prevent any of this from being necessary. Dumbledore can even have it distributed across Hogwarts." James turned to Lily, "Can you make the antidote?"

"It seems straight forward enough but I don't have the time! I start work tomorrow and this potion requires at minimum," Lily glanced over the antidote recipe quickly, "Six hours."

"So take a few more days off and say that you just need more time since your mum," Sirius suggested.

"And leave Mulciber unsupervised around Lovegood? No. I need to go in, talk to Meadowes, update Gideon and keep an eye on Mulciber until we can get this whole thing shut down."

"Maybe dad can do it," James suggested.

"That's — do you think he'd do it?" Lily asked.

"He is a great potioneer and he is funding the Order, what's a bit of time out of his day?"

"He'll ask questions," Remus pointed out. "Questions we can't answer."

"He knows that," James assured them. "If it's for the Order he'll know better than to ask. I'll ask him if he can do it and Lily can keep an eye on Mulciber."

James wrapped an arm around Lily and she nestled her head into the crook of his neck, the sweet coconut smell of her hair filling him with warmth. He'd make sure she was inoculated as soon as dad finished the first batch. There was no way he was having her running around the city when she could just die at any point. He was all she had left and by Merlin was he going to make sure she was safe until the very end.

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready to go back?" James asked as they lay in bed in the morning, facing each other.

"You're going back," Lily pointed out.

"Yeah but she wasn't my mum. So are you sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "A week was good but if I don't get out, I'm going to go crazy. Besides, with what I found out last night, I _really_ have to talk to Meadowes and Gideon."

"Speaking of that, I had a chat with dad last night."

"And?"

"He said he'll work on it today."

"That's good," Lily murmured.

"It is. You know what's not?" James kissed her nose. "We gotta get up." Lily wrinkled her nose in displeasure and James chuckled. "You're the one who wanted to start back at work."

Mornings starting off at James' house was different. Instead of going into the kitchen to make her own breakfast and pack a lunch, she was greeted by Euphemia and all three house elves who had a breakfast spread already set out on the counter and a plastic container packed with leftovers from last night's dinner.

James and Fleamont came down as well and the four of them ate breakfast together, chatting amicably before James and Lily flooed to their jobs — James to the Puddlemere United stadium and Lily to the Ministry.

The Ministry was the same as always. Witches and wizards bustling about, a blur of black and grey robes and the white noise of chatter from a crowd. Lily made her way down to the Charms Development Department and went straight to Meadowes' office, knocking on the door sharply.

"Come in!"

Lily wasted no time entering and said, "We need to talk."

Meadowes gestured for Lily to sit and Lily did before launching into the potion and the dangers of Lovegood's spell.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you need to shut down Lovegood's project."

"It's not that simple," Meadowes frowned. "The Director of St Mungoe's is willing to pay the Ministry a very large sum for this charm. If we pull Lovegood's project, we'll lose half our funding!"

"So then we lose half our funding! If Lovegood succeeds and Mulciber gets it," Lily shook her head, "It'll be a catastrophe."

"Your job is to make sure that Mulciber doesn't get it," Meadowes reminded her coldly. "Not to say we should pull a worthy project. Do your job, Evans."

Lily, however frustrated and angry, recognised the dismissal and left Meadowes' office only to bump into an old familiar face.

"Mr Bodine!" Lily greeted.

"Miss Evans," he smiled kindly. "I was very sorry to hear about your mother."

"Thank you, that's very kind of you."

"Say, Miss Evans, would you like to come visit the Potions lab? There's something — very top secret — that I'd like to show you."

"Me?" Lily said surprised.

"I did invite you at Slughorn's party and I must say I was quite disappointed when you didn't take me up on the offer."

Lily wasn't stupid enough to believe Bodine's reasoning but humoured him. "Oh well, I suppose I have a bit of time before work starts."

"Wonderful. Follow me."

Lily followed two steps behind Harland Bodine, if a little cautiously. The Potions Department wasn't all that far away from the Charms Department, just down a corridor and up two flights of stairs and all up, a mere five minute walk.

The Potions lab had a haze to it. And a stench. Cauldron's bubbled and sizzled over controlled flames, a frazzled person standing over it. Lily couldn't help but smile softly at the wizard with singed eyebrows and grinned stupidly at the witch who looked like she had cured death from how she was celebrating.

"Now this is probably a little smellier than you're used to," Bodine said and Lily waved him off. Bodine then started pointing out different projects. The singed eyebrowed wizard was trying to concoct a potion that turned any substance into drinkable water. The celebrating witch had succeeded in creating a potion that would work as a shield against jinxes and hexes.

"You can imagine why the Ministry is very interested in that. If you know anyone who works at St Mungoe's you'll know that most people can't even properly perform a shield charm — a lot of those people, I'm afraid we found out, are in fact in this department. Now, here is the project you would have been assigned, had you chosen potions instead of charms. Miss Evans meet Mr Bede Damocles. He is working on a cure of sorts for the ailment known as lycanthropy. It will be called the Wolfsbane Potion."

Lily stopped for a moment, her mind processing his fancy words into simpler ones and then blurted, "A cure for werewolves?"

"It's not a cure," Mr Damocles, a short grey and bearded man, said gruffly and that may be just the perfect word to describe Damocles. He was gruff from his falling apart shoes to his grey patched up robes to his grey hair that tufted out on the sides like some bizarre cartoon character.

"Not a cure," Bodine confirmed. "Just something to help werewolves keep their human minds during transformations."

"That's amazing," Lily breathed thinking of Remus. "Will it make the process hurt less?"

"What do we care about making it hurt less?" Damocles asked. "We are concerned with protecting people."

Lily frowned at that. "But every bone in their body breaks during the transformation. Surely that's also a concern."

"You seem to know a lot about it," Damocles accused.

"Just what we're taught in school. That werewolves are vicious and inhumane. It seems the werewolves aren't the inhumane creatures though."

Lily knew she shouldn't be smart mouthing someone who is clearly so much higher up and smarter than she is but she couldn't help it. She thought of Remus and his kinder than Jesus nature and she couldn't fathom how people could act like his pain and his woes didn't matter. It didn't matter to them that he was sick for the three days surrounding the full moon. It didn't matter to them that Remus couldn't hold a job longer than six months less someone figure it out and it certainly didn't matter to them that he never asked for any of this.

Damocles narrowed his eyes at Bodine. "Who's she? Why is she here? You're disrupting my concentration."

"This is Lily Evans. The girl we offered the internship to."

"Turned it down, didn't she? Why she here now? This is meant to be top secret. Minister's orders."

"By my invitation. She works down in Charms Development under Lovegood."

"Who?"

"Oh nevermind," and then more quietly so only Lily could hear, "you old bastard." He gestured for Lily to follow him so that they were just out of earshot of Damocles.

"Forgive me, Mr Bodine, but I'm still a little confused as to why you're showing me this. If what Mr Damocles says then you could get into quite a bit of trouble by showing me this. Not that I'm not grateful, of course."

"Of course," Bodine allowed. "I must admit, my reasoning for showing you isn't quite as honest as I made it out to be. I've been trying to get Mr Potter, that is Fleamont Potter, in here to look over Damocles' work. Old blighter says he's too old to stand over a cauldron nowadays but well, back in the day he mentored Damocles. Damocles, well, let's just say some of us assume he's a little mad, a genius but mad to the bullocks and I just want to make sure that, er, Mr Damocles isn't creating anything, uh, lethal."

"Lethal?"

"Damocles sympathies, as you could gather, aren't exactly with the species who will be drinking this potion. It was why we wanted him to have an intern. He picked you but — well, you turned us down."

"Species?" Lily laughed. "You make them sound like foreign aliens. They're people, Mr Bodine, and I do not appreciate you insinuating that I'm at all to blame because as an intern I'd expect to be babysat a little not babysitting my mentor. And pardon me for overstepping, Mr Bodine, but a person who has no sympathies for a specific group of people the supposed remedy is for has no business making it in the first place."

"Well, yes, yes of course. Would you pass this on to Mr Potter? You understand how imperative it is."

"I can pass along the message," Lily said stiffly.

Lily kept a stern eye on Mulciber throughout the day and stiff could be the word to describe her conduct through the day. Gideon warned her to get the stick out of her arse or she may as well confess to being in the Order to Mulciber and she tried not to think about _things_ but it was all there, circling and circling, chasing each other like a dog and it's tail. Between the vague knowlegde of Death Eater plans to kill the majority of London and who knew what else and what Mr Bodine had exposed to her, it was a wonder she could concentrate on anything at all.

"Lily, dear, would you like to take a few more days off?" Lovegood slid into the seat next to Lily.

"No, no, of course not. Why do you ask?"

"You've been staring at that page for ten minutes."

Lily smiled. "Just working through a problem," she lied, well, sort of. She was working through a problem just not the one she was being paid to solve. Lily was simultaneously trying to figure out how to get her hands on the Wolfsbane Potion and how to keep Mulciber away from Lovegood's spell when she figured it out.

"Well, what have you got so far?" Lovegood asked pulling Lily's notes in front of her and tugging Lily's mind away from Death Eater plots and plots of her own and towards charm theory.

* * *

Marlene walked through headquarters, fiddling with the tips of her hair. It was bustling as it always was during a meeting — Lily, Gideon and Dorcas Meadowes were arguing by the window in the main drawing room.

"I just don't understand," Lily huffed. "You're the head of the department! Surely you have a say in what projects do and don't run."

"And surely you can get Mulciber kicked off the project," Gideon sided with Lily.

"I need justification and without any proof that Mulciber's a Death Eater or doing something wrong, I can't kick him off the project unless we want some brown nosing official sniffing around — and may I point out that the only thing they're going to find wrong with the department is you, Gid."

"If Mulciber is kicked out, I'll gladly leave and let Lils alone to her tinkering with Lovegood," Gideon proposed and Marlene shook her head as she turned away from that conversation and noticed the Marauders — minus Remus — sitting around a table where a parchment lay spread across it, various markings here or there.

"That corridor only runs for six meters not nine, Padfoot!" Peter knocked the quill out of Sirius' hand.

"That is six meters!"

"No, it's nine, you're using the old scale again," James shook his head.

"I don't see why we had to change the scale in the first place it worked perfectly well for the first map," Sirius grumbled.

"And this is why we agreed Moony would be the main cartographer," James sighed. "Pads, hand over the quill. Where is the blighter anyways? He was supposed to be here an hour ago."

None of that conversation made any sense to Marlene apart from the fact they were making a map of some sorts but finding it of no further interest, Marlene once again turned away, eyes scanning the room until she eyed Emmeline with Fabian, Alice and Frank at the end of the room.

"… So we get into our room and it is _falling_ apart," Frank said, "And I mean the ceiling was ready to collapse."

"It wasn't _that_ bad," Alice chided.

"Honey, a chunk of it fell out when we closed the door."

"It was a little bit bad," Alice wrinkled her nose holding up her thumb to her index finger to indicate just how bad and Frank shook his head and grabbed Alice's hands and spread them as far away as possible.

"That's how bad it was," he corrected and Alice let out a pearly laugh filled with happiness.

"Marly!" Alice waved Marlene over. "We're just going over honeymoon stories the hotel we were supposed to stay at messed up our booking so we had to stay in this travesty of a hotel."

"You call it a travesty and yet insist it wasn't that bad," Emmeline crooked an eyebrow at her sister.

"It was funny!" Alice insisted. "We were laughing the entire time."

"Ah, can't be that bad of a time if you two were laughing during," Fabian wagged his brows to finish his sentence suggestively and Alice blushed but Frank said, "Well, it'd be lying to deny it. The bed literally broke and it was hysterical."

All five of them burst into laughter. "Holy shit you actually broke the bed!" Fabian wheezed. "Now that's a honeymoon story."

Alice and Frank told a few more stories about their time in Italy, all of them causing fits of laughter to everyone hearing them, before Marlene asked to speak to Emmeline alone. They separated from the rest of the group and headed for a quieter corner.

"What is it? You look serious."

"No, no, it's not like bad serious just … I was wondering how everyone in my year, well, how we got asked to join. Was that just something Dumbledore decided?"

"No, actually, I knew Alice would want to fight in something like this and it just had me thinking that other students in her year might be interested in fighting to so I brought it up at a meeting once and Dumbledore thought about it and you lot were at the first Order meeting of the summer."

"That's it?"

Emmeline shrugged. "Yeah. I mean obviously he would have asked you guys and talked about it but the decision to ask you was ultimately Dumbledore's. Why do you ask?"

"There's just some people I work with and I, well, I think they'd be interested in fighting and they're good people. Healers, which is good because I know some people get hurt during missions."

"You should bring it up at the meeting tonight," Emmeline encouraged. "We could always use more people."

"Oh, I don't, I don't know about that." Marlene realised how that sounded and set of quickly to correct herself. "About bringing it up tonight, not about needing more people."

Emmeline laughed and nodded. "Well, there's no time like the present and the worst that happens is Dumbledore says no and that's that. Nothing to lose from asking."

Marlene almost uttered the words 'my dignity' before smiling. "I'll think about it. Thanks, Em."

The meeting started soon after and everyone congregated around the large wooden table in the kitchen — somehow the Order had outgrown the dining room for its larger meetings. Marlene knew of so many of the faces, mostly her class-mates from school — Helena Bonham in particular stood out with a nasty bruise around her left eye and Polly Piggens was next to her with a thin pink scar running across her cheek, evidence of a mission gone awry surely and it struck Marlene. Even they had been assigned a mission so why not Marlene? Why had Marlene not been asked to be involved in a mission?

Marlene had rather lost track of what Dumbledore was saying — a skill she'd honed in Hogwarts — until Emmeline spoke up from right beside Marlene and Marlene chided herself. If she'd been paying attention she could have avoided this.

"Marlene knows some people she thinks may be interested in joining the Order," Emmeline piped in a loud clear voice so everyone heard and Marlene dug her elbow into Emmeline's side.

"Is that so, Miss Adams?" Dumbledore asked and Marlene felt as though she were being called out in assembly.

"I, er, yeah. Just some friends from St Mungo's. Training healers."

"I concur they have names," Dumbledore prodded.

"Oh, yes. Maria Matthews and Steven Socha."

He nodded seriously. "I shall look into them."

Oh. That was easy. Dumbledore just, like, took Marlene's word for that which puzzled her. What if she'd referred a secret Death Eater? What if they were spies? What if they were secret agents under Bagnold to infiltrate the Order to shut it down? What if they wanted to poison the entire Order?

"Oh, come on," Nate laughed when she brought up these fears to him whilst they sat on her bed, Nate at the end and Marlene laying against the head board, her feet on his lap. "Seriously? Poison us? How would they know about us to want to poison us?"

"Duh! Spies!"

After Nate's laughter abated he assured her that Dumbledore was looking into it. He wasn't just taking her word on it, he'd be doing research on them — a background check of sorts — and that made Marlene feel slightly better before he moved onto other aspects of the meeting.

"Weird to think Hogwarts might be seriously attacked," Nate mused.

"Hmm?"

"Did you pay attention to anything?" Nate raised a brow.

"What's the point? It's not like I'm being assigned any missions, you know, like ever."

"I don't think I've ever heard you sound this bitter since Henry took the last ice-block last summer."

"Ha ha. What's this about Hogwarts anyways?"

"Didn't tell us much. Just that Hogwarts might be attacked by Death Eaters soon. Very soon."

"That's vague."

"The boys are on it apparently."

"Oh yes because 'the boys' isn't any less vague."

"Pete, Remus, James and Sirius."

"Oh, the Marauders."

Nate quirked a brow, "The Marauders. Is that like some dumb name you came up with for them because their names are too long to say all together?"

"Look it's what everyone calls them, just go with it."

Nate had an amused smirk on his face and Marlene nudged him with her foot, "Shut up," she smiled.

* * *

A potion that could help Remus even if it wasn't something made out of concern or sympathies for him and his kin but it was something. How many times had James said he had to talk Remus out of a spiral where he was convinced he was a monster? This potion, well this could solve all that. How could he be a monster if the wolf was still the human? If the wolf had the mind of Remus, he could have the certainty that he wasn't hurting anybody and the peace of mind, the freedom that comes with that. It wouldn't take the pain away but he'd have peace of mind.

Lily mentioned it all to Fleamont as she sat on a high stool beside his brewing antidote, one that she judged was going well.

"They suspect he's got an agenda," Fleamont huffed. "It's a wonder the stupid fools let him try to make it in the first place. I suppose he is the only one mad enough to try and create something containing wolfsbane — highly combustive not to mention lethal stuff if not done right. Gah!" he remarked surprising Lily. "Stupid, stupid idiots. This is why I never worked for those idiots. They don't care about the people they try to help, they just care about the next pay load of royalties and something like the wolfsbane potion," Fleamont whistled lowly, "they'd be raking in the royalties by just publishing the recipe."

"Monty, I need you to go and see Damocles and Mr Bodine," Lily said earnestly. Fleamont turned to look at her, the surprise written all over his aged face. "Not because of Mr Bodine or Damocles but for me. I need that recipe for … for someone I know."

He quirked his brow and he looked so much like James which is odd because Lily stood by her assessment that James favoured his mother's looks but that, that quirked brow with pursed lips and that curious expression that he sometimes got, that was Fleamont. "James, isn't a werewolf is he?"

Lily shook her head, "Why would you ask?"

"He does seem to disappear around a full moon. He thinks we don't notice but it was all I could do to keep Euphemia from scouring the woods for a wolf last summer." Lily laughed awkwardly and made a note to tell James that he really wasn't as discrete as he thought he was. "But then, Sirius moved in with us and they were both off disappearing so we wrote it down to a ritual of sorts."

"A pact actually," Lily corrected. "They wouldn't break it if their lives depended on it."

"They're loyal as a pack of wolves, mind the pun," Fleamont winked at her but Lily thought it was very much an apt description of the four boys. Maybe not a pack of wolves but a pack of sorts. A rat, a dog, a stag and a wolf. A funny pack but the most loyal you'd find anywhere. "If it is really that important, I will try to obtain the recipe for you."

"It is," Lily assured him, "And, well, I think James would also thank you greatly."

Fleamont looked at her for a moment as though trying to read on her face who among the people they were friends with was a werewolf. A loud pop accompanied by sizzling and hot liquid splattered onto her, searing her bare arm and singing her robes, an acidic smoke streaming into the air and filling her nostrils. A loud shout escaped her lips as she saw Fleamont.

His face was splattered with the same searing liquid — the exploded potion Lily realised with panic. No, no, no.

"JAMES!" Lily shouted. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She jumped up grasping Fleamont's flailing arms as he tried to grab something he could catch his balance on. "Monty! Monty, are you okay? JAMES! MIA! ANYBODY!"

"Can't see!" Fleamont gasped, clutching Lily's forearms tightly and thundering footsteps down the basement stairs.

"I guess I'm any—what's going on?"

Lily turned. Sirius stood, mouth agape on the last stair.

"Quickly!" she ordered. "Help me get him to St Mungo's! Now!"

* * *

Marlene leaned in the doorway, James, his mum, Lily and Sirius were all seated around Fleamont's bed. They were waiting for a test to come back on the substance that had burned Fleamont and Lily. Waiting for the prospects was never fun and this one, whilst Marlene assumed it wouldn't be fatal, could lead to serious damage. Marlene had been allowed to fix Lily up but deep pink scars still wrapped around her forearms the shape of a hand — Lily said it was from when Fleamont had grabbed her.

"Healer Adams," a voice said behind her and she turned to see Healer Wright.

"Did you test the potion?"

Wright nodded. "He'll lose his eyesight in the left eye, hard to say about the right eye. Scarring will take years to fade out. You know them?"

"We've all known each other since first year Hogwarts. Same house."

"Well, then, maybe you should come with me to break the news. It's nice for the family to have a face they trust."

"I - I can't," Marlene said. She couldn't go tell Mrs Potter and James and Sirius that Fleamont's sight would be very limited from now on. That one eye would be lost forever and that they didn't know if he'd be able to see at all. She couldn't shatter their world like that.

"Adams, this is the job. You'll accompany me." Wright didn't wait for Marlene to respond, she walked in passed Marlene and she had no choice but to follow. The four of them all stood at the presence of Wright, eager to hear good news.

"Mrs Potter, we ran our tests on the substance and it's not entirely good. Your husband's left eye was hit with quite a lot of the substance and unfortunately, our tests revealed that the eye will be unsalvageable. He will be blind in his left eye. As for his right, it wasn't hit with as much as the left however, we won't know how much he will be able to see from that eye until he wakes up, which I suspect will be soon. As for the scarring, and this pertains to you as well, Miss Evans, it'll take years to fade and I do recommend applying dittany twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, it'll hopefully help the scarring fade much quicker."

Marlene didn't know how Wright could say all that in a minute without faltering, without pausing, without hesitating. She just changed these people's lives, gave Mr Potter his life sentence, and she just charged through like a bullet cutting through the air.

"Not entirely good?" Sirius croaked. "None of that is good!"

"Sirius," Mrs Potter warned in a quiet voice. "The good news is that it's not fatal. Thank you, Healer Wright."

Wright, recognising her dismissal, walked out of the room but Marlene stayed for a moment and Lily walked over to her, gesturing to head outside together. Lily turned to Marlene in the middle of the corridor.

"It's my fault." Lily shook her head, a tear in her eye.

"Hey, don't say that," Marlene frowned.

"But it is. He shouldn't have been making that potion in the first place. There's a reason he's retired and it was my job. It should've been my job. If I had just done it — if I had just had the time! He wouldn't be-"

Marlene pulled her into a hug. "This is not your fault. Mr Potter just got really unlucky."

"Lils? You okay?" Marlene glanced over Lily's shoulder and saw Sirius leaning, all so cool if it weren't for his puffy, red eyes, against the door frame.

"Fine. I'm fine." Lily pulled away, using her palms to wipe her tears away before turning to Sirius. "See? Fine."

"Sure you are," Sirius said.

Lily didn't retort to his sarcastic remark, instead she just walked passed him back into the room leaving Marlene facing Sirius in the corridor. She hadn't seen him since the wedding, since Ella had said everything had fallen apart.

"I wish she were here," Sirius said finally, surprising Marlene because she didn't have to ask who but she didn't know why he was telling her this.

"Is a baby really such a terrible thing?" Marlene asked softly.

"I don't know if I could do it."

"Do what? Be a dad?"

"No. Be a _good_ dad."

It was a funny sight Sirius Black, a man who had been good at everything he'd endeavoured to do in life, standing in front of her scared out of his wits that he wouldn't make a good dad. Marlene smiled softly. "You do want kids. You're just scared."

"That's what Ella said."

"She's right."

"She usually is that one. Can you tell her … tell her I miss her."

"I will and Sirius, for the record, I think you'd be a _great_ dad."

His lips twitched ever so slightly into a smile and he pushed off the wall, heading back into the room.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm so sorry that it's been so long :/ but life has been busy and the next two and a half chapters are done - there's only one sub plot i need to get started in the next chapter and as soon as i figure out how to do that and make it flow with the rest of the story, it will be up! Hopefully soon but don't quote me because i work two jobs in retail and my roster for my second job hasn't come out yet but I'm like 99.8% sure that between my two jobs I'll be working seven days a week in December but hopefully the next chapter is up before December! Fingers crossed!_

To anyone with concerns that this isn't a 'what if' story, I promise this is a JILY LIVES fic, just a very long one lol but I do have a plan for them to survive october 31st, 1981 and then a whole lot more story after that ;)

On a side note, I am considering posting this on ao3 ... i've had an account for ages but mostly just to comment on people's stories, I never considered posting my own stories on there but I don't know, I feel like more people prefer AO3 now... hmmm we'll see

you guys know the drill, favourite, follow and of course, any authors favourite: REVIEW!

-Natalie xx


	35. Chapter 34: Weight of the World

It's loud. She wants to wake up because the noise is unbearable; shouts and screams of pain, cries of people dying. All she could see was red. Rivers of blood streaking down flesh, pooling on stone. Red eyes. She wants to wake up but she can't. She never went to sleep. Someone is trying to speak to her, asking her if she's all right. She doesn't know. She's never had one this loud. The noise seemed to choke the breath out of her.

She sees flashes; a broken house … parents hugging a baby … a terrifying man with red eyes … a group of four, fierce in nature…

She gasped dramatically as her breath came back to her, enough that she could say the words that weren't her own.

" _The ones with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born in betrayal in the year of fidelity … wolf, dog, stag and doe … in unity they have the power the Dark Lord knows not … the final battle will end when either dies at the hand of the other, for neither can live whilst the other survives … the ones with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches as the tenth month dies…_ "

Her brain cleared, heart pounding.

"Okay?" he asked and she nodded. "You — I think you just had a prophecy about You-Know-Who."

"That doesn't make sense. He has nothing to do with me!"

He tapped her nose, "You know that's not how it works. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

* * *

This assignment or mission or whatever sucked, was Remus' most notable observation. James and Sirius had been right — insufferable gits — when they said Remus didn't have to do this. Of course Remus didn't have to do this but if not Remus, who else? But looking around the dank underground, with it's stone arched ceilings and the dozens of tents crowding the area, voices echoing loudly Remus deduced that anyone else would have been better.

City Road Tube Station was tiled onto the walls. It was a muggle train station, abandoned in the fifties and the werewolves, outcasted and in need of sanctuary, did what wizards do best with abandoned muggle buildings. They hid it from the muggle eye — making sure it looked viably abandoned and dangerous to go in — and set up a camp for werewolves. Some came because they were intrigued but most came because they had to. Most of these people were criminals or beggars, the worst were the ones who used magic to steal from muggles. Remus hardly fit in with this sort of crowd but he found a non-offensive group of people to plant his tent next to.

Jim and Chris Richmond were brothers, a few years apart from each other, their home, like Remus', had been attacked by a werewolf and they had both been bitten, Jim when he was thirteen and Chris when he was ten. They seemed the most normal out of the lot. They pick-pocketed to make ends meat but "Only of the filthy rich sort — you know the snooty pure-blood type" Jim had explained and of course Remus was all to well with those type having just broken into one of their manors and so decided that the Richmond brothers were the lesser of evils in this dungeon.

The next person of the group found Remus. He spotted her as she walked towards him. She reminded him of the sun. Honey blonde hair hung down to her waist in a thick, shiny sheet and a fringe falling into her gold eyes. She had sun-kissed skin wearing a knitted yellow dress with a short grey cloak. Her eyes found his staring ones and she smiled as though she had found what she was looking for which was ridiculous because why would she be looking for Remus, she didn't even know Remus.

She walked right up to Remus, conjured a chair next to his and sat down as though invited and said, "I'm glad to see werewolves get five star luxury in London." The accent surprised him. Not British but American.

"You new?" Remus asked, wanting to know if she was newly turned.

"New to the country, not new to the disease."

"Interesting way of putting it."

"A disease, by definition, is a disorder of structure or function in a human or animal. What would you call it?"

"Something much less kind."

"Hm, are you some pretentious pure-blood brought up with the ideology that werewolves are beasts worse than dementors who was recently turned and can't live with himself?"

"Zero out of three. My mother is a muggle. My dad a Ministry man — not overly wealthy but enough to support us. Dementors aren't beasts and I was turned when I was five."

She gawked. "Five?"

Remus shrugged. "It is what it is. You said you were new to the country?"

"New York."

"Oh so that's what the awful accent was."

"Hmm, if you're parents are okay financially why are you in a hole like this?"

Remus shrugged. "Maybe I'm just accepting my path."

"Your path?"

"Every werewolves path, you know the descent into poverty and crime because we can't hold jobs longer than three or six months and everyone you tell stares at you like you're an abomination."

"You say it like it's your fault."

"Sometimes it feels like it is."

"That's bullshit. It's theirs. Theirs and the fear that drove them to shun us despite the fact that we're as harmless as any human soul every other day of the month. I don't see why those of us who take precautions are outcasted. We didn't do anything wrong except have the unfortunate misfortune to get bitten."

Remus smiled, genuinely smiled and stuck his hand out to her. "Remus Lupin."

"You're shitting me right?"

"Hmm?"

"Remus Lupin. Your name is Werewolf Werewolf."

"Er, what?"

"Remus is a name from Ancient Rome, the brother Remus and Romulus fought to death over the control of Rome and they were raised by — get this — a wolf. Lupin is literally latin for 'wolf-like'. You my friend, were destined for this."

Remus frowned, thoroughly unhappy at this revelation. "Do me a favour, don't tell my mates this. They'll never let me live it down."

Haley laughed softly and said, "Will do."

"So what's your name then?" After a beat. "Don't worry I won't analyse it."

She laughed again, "Haley Daniels. You don't mind if I park my tent here, do you?"

"Not at all."

Remus pretended to be occupied as she turned her attention to her bag, pulling out her tent and using magic to erect it quickly. She disappeared inside for a few minutes before coming back out with two mugs of hot cocoa. She handed one to Remus as she sat down.

"Oh, thanks, you didn't have to."

"Consider it a peace offering. I was sixteen when I got bit."

"That must've been tough. Sometimes, sometimes I think it's better that I was bitten so young. I don't remember anything different — not anything substantial anyways."

Haley nodded. "When I got bit, it was the end of _my_ world. I couldn't go to school anymore, anything I was thinking about career wise was shot to hell." She shook her head. "It was a tough time."

"I'll bet."

"You know, you don't sound like a person who's never been to school."

"That's because I did go to school," Remus replied. "Hogwarts."

"But you were bitten when-"

"I know, my parents didn't think I'd be able to go either but Professor Dumbledore came over one day and said there wasn't any reason why I shouldn't go to school as long as precautions were taken."

"Precautions?"

"Secret tunnel guarded by a whomping willow that led to an abandoned shack, reinforced by Dumbledore himself to hold me in."

"That's — you're school had a whomping willow?"

"That's what you got out of all that?"

"You're lucky that you had a Professor like Dumbledore. He's something of a legend over in the States."

"He's a bit of a legend around these parts too."

From there the two chatted about the differences between Illvermony and Hogwarts comparing everything from teachers to houses to buildings versus castle. Eventually, Chris and Jim joined in on the side of Hogwarts but interested in hearing about what other magical education was like.

They all stayed up late talking huddled around the blue flames that Haley had conjured — warmer than normal flames. Remus had meant to subtly bring up the war — that was his mission after all; to find out what side the werewolves would be on — but the opportunity eluded Remus as light hearted talk about school memories and family floated out of each of them. There'd be tomorrow and the days after that, he supposed. This really wasn't a mission with a time stamp on it.

* * *

Alice lounged in her bed as she watched Marlene and Adaline try to put up a shield charm that Alice had been taught by Moody. Technically, she shouldn't be showing them this, in fact, she could get thrown out of the Auror Training program if she did but they were in the Order and no doubt a shield like that would come in handy.

It was a powerful charm performed silently and it created an invisible wall that absorbed the energy of spells that hit it. In theory, if your shield gained enough energy, you should be able to push the shield forward to knock your opponent back.

None of them were taking it very seriously — after all this was one of the only times three of them had been able to meet up just to hang since Alice's wedding. A bottle of firewhiskey sat on the desk, each of the girls holding a glass with a sizeable amount of the drink in it as Alice flicked mostly harmless jinxes towards Adaline and Marlene.

"Oi, that almost hit me!" Marlene said affronted before dissolving in laughter.

"Well then you're not doing the spell very well," Alice shot back.

"When's Frank get home?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "He's on a super, duper secret mission with the Order so hopefully sometime this week."

"This week?" Adaline exclaimed.

Alice shrugged then. He'd only left this afternoon, which was why she'd invited the girls over. The house felt big when it was two of them but on her own, it felt like a creepy mansion. He hadn't been able to tell her much about the mission except that he might not be home for a few days.

"Life of being in the Order, I suppose. Del, your making your movements to wide. The tighter it is, the more power you can channel."

" _The more power you can channel_ ," Marlene sniggered. "God, Al."

"It's how Moody said it," Alice said with a sly smile.

"Merlin, that makes it even funnier," Adaline giggled. " _The more power you can channel. Constant vigilance!"_

"No, no, no — you didn't say it with enough force," Marlene shook her head. "He's more like: _The more power you can channel! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!_ " The girls dissolved into laughter.

"Merlin, he's an intense man."

"He's not so bad," Alice shrugged.

"Yeah, okay," Marlene huffed. "That's like saying Dumbledore isn't brilliant."

"You're probably just use to him."

"Probably," Alice agreed. "He's a great teacher though. He's seen so much that you just know that he's teaching you the good stuff. The stuff that'll keep you alive but, Merlin! Duelling him makes me want to die. Honestly, the way he duels, you'd think we were the Death Eaters."

Silence fell over the girls, all simultaneously taking a sip of their drinks. Alice smirked before hitting Marlene with a small stinging hex.

"OI!"

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Adaline shouted and that was all it took for the girls to dissolve into laughter again.

* * *

It was peaceful here. James' low, excited voice was telling her the story of the lost treasure of Merlin as they stood at the helm of the old ship. It was the oldest ship in wizarding history and rumoured to belong to Merlin himself. It was perfectly preserved at the docks of a small wizarding village called Earlsea.

This was where James had taken her after Euphemia all but kicked them out of the house after bringing Fleamont home. It was a relief that Euphemia didn't seem so worried that she wanted her and James to stay at home but also Lily felt exhausted after the last few weeks. From Voldemort attacking and her mum dying to finally closing the book with Petunia to Snape's potion to Fleamont's accident — the exhaustion had seeped into her bones and she felt like she wanted to sleep for eons.

She couldn't say any of this though. James' parents may be alive but his dad had just lost eyesight in one eye and become colourblind in the other, not to mention the scaring on his face. This was difficult for James and if being somewhere like this cheered him up, she'd do it gladly even if she had a muted wish to be lying at the bottom of the ocean where the water blocked out all the noise.

"This was my favourite place when I was a kid."

"I'll bet it was your favourite story too," Lily smirked.

"Mum told it to me most nights."

"At your request."

"You got me."

"It's strange to think what we would've been in those times, who we would've become."

"Oh, we'd be outlawed pirates on the seven seas chasing adventure."

"Yes, I could imagine you and Sirius wrecking havoc on the seas. Me though, I'm not so sure."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Maybe not at first but one day our ship would dock in your village and we'd meet and you'd run away from Petunia with me. I'd just be _that_ charming, you wouldn't be able to resist."

Lily laughed. "And we'd live happily ever after."

"You'd force us to teach you how to fight with a sword and we'd get married one day and have a cute pirate baby that would take over our legacy."

"Our legacy?" Lily quirked her brow.

"Most notorious and richest pirates ever — eluding escape from the red coats and conquering any ship that dares to battle us. We'd be pirate royalty."

Lily laughed delicately, enjoying this little make-belief life of theirs. Life of adventure on the sea sounded so much simpler than the reality they faced.

"Keep talking, Potter, and I might insist we commandeer this ship and do just that."

"There aren't any pirates anymore, not like there used to be."

"Already a few hundred steps closer to becoming the King and Queen of Pirates," Lily joked.

James turned her around to kiss her deeply and she could feel herself blushing because there were mothers with little kids and older folk also wandering around the ship but she couldn't find it in herself to care. Instead she hummed lowly into the kiss and hugged him closer, needing him after the last few days they'd had. In this kiss, she could ignore everything around her and pretend that they were kissing at the helm of their ship, victorious after a long a hard battle.

James pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, his eyes such an intense gold that Lily could happily stare into them for the rest of her life. Such a gold had to be treasure for sure and in that moment she was jealous of his god damned eyes because he looked like the whole damn sun and she had green. What even was green? Nowhere near as interesting as gold.

"What?" he murmured at her intense stare.

"Mm, just thinking your eyes are like the sun."

"Yours are like a forest." Lily scrunched up her face and he chuckled, "Forests are cool. I quite like forests."

"And I quite like the sun."

They moved back onto land after a while, talking quietly to each other about nothing important in particular before stopping at a fish and chip shop and taking an order to go. They sat at a picnic table by the sea, sitting opposite each other when James asked:

"Do you think Moony will be okay?"

"Only a few more days before you get to see him," Lily said softly. "I'm sure he's fine. He looked after the lot of you for seven years, I'm sure he can handle himself."

James chewed his bottom lip. "It's just odd, him splitting off to do his own mission without any of us. We were always, like a team or something."

Lily, thinking of her conversation with Fleamont the other day, said, "A pack."

"It's just weird knowing he's not at our beck and call, you know?"

Lily did know. The four of them would drop heaven and hell for each other if either of them gave the word to.

"He'll be all right," Lily assured James, grabbing his hand tightly.

They spent the rest of the day in each other's company talking about all the things that had escaped them before. They'd both been so busy between James' Quidditch practices, Lily's full time work at the Ministry, visiting James' dad at the hospital and Lily brewing as much of the potion as she could at nights after work — a task that took from the moment she got home until the moment she went to bed. They'd barely had time to chat passed all the important, immediate things.

Lily felt the calmest she'd felt since her mother's passing and since James now knew about the project she was working on at the Ministry, Lily started telling him all about it and she loved him so much more when he sat there for a half hour as she told him all these nerdy facts about charms.

"You know, Mulciber showed me something pretty cool."

"Francis Mulciber?" James raised his brow.

"Don't look at me like that. You know I have to become friends with him for the Order."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," James uttered.

"Yes, well I don't like it much either but he showed me something and it was pretty cool."

"You've called it 'pretty cool' twice now. It must be _so_ cool."

She nudged him. "Did you know you can stop a spell in midair?"

James furrowed his brows. "What you mean like a shield charm?"

"No, I mean like just stopping a spell." Lily looked around out of habit but they were in a wizarding town. There wouldn't be muggles for miles. "Watch." She shot a stunner at a nearby tree but before it could hit, the spell stopped in midair, forming into a small ball the size of a snitch and then with a flick of her wand, the streak of red shot straight into the air, exploding like fireworks.

"How'd you do that?"

"Magic is an extension of us, so if you concentrate enough, you should be able to do it to any spell you cast."

"Huh. Show me," James said eagerly and so Lily showed him again before talking him through how to do it. He managed quite well, slowing his spells down but he couldn't quite manage setting them in a different direction.

Eventually, they settled on a picnic blanket, lying down facing up at the sky and huddling under James' cloak.

"I've been thinking," Lily started.

"Didn't know you could think."

Lily nudged him and told him to shove it before continuing. "I think I should move out."

 _That_ got James' attention. He turned to face her and she did the same. "Lils, you don't have to think about this yet. You're mum … she only passed away three weeks ago." Lily looked down, her fingers playing with the blanket they lay on. She wished he hadn't mentioned her mum. "Hey," he said softly, his fingers on her chin guiding her face back to his, "I didn't mean to mention her but I just don't want you making any big decisions whilst you're still grieving."

"I guess the next part isn't going to go down so well either," Lily mused and at James' expectant gaze she continued, "I think I should move out and I think you should come with me."

"I — wait, what? Are you asking if we should move in together?"

"No, I'm saying _we should_ move in together."

"Oh."

Lily frowned. "Oh?" She sat up confused. She hadn't been scared to ask because she thought she wouldn't have to convince him. She had thought he'd be onboard and excited.

"It's just — my parents!" he exclaimed. "Especially dad, I don't want to leave him and you're mum just died — shit I'm sorry I brought it up again."

"Well, we wouldn't move out straight away. I mean we still have to actually find an apartment. But I was hoping maybe by the end of the year we'd have our own place — together. Do you," she coughed, "Do you not want to?"

He sat up, cupping her face in his hands, "Hey, you know it's not about that. Of course I want to but," he sighed. "A lot of things have been happening the last few weeks and we both know that if you're mum was still here, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now. I'm just — I'm not saying no, love. I'm saying let's give it another few weeks and then we'll talk about it properly. Is that okay?" he asked the last part hesitantly and she knew he was sincere. He just wanted some more time and she could give him that.

Living at his parents place was nice but it wasn't home for her but it was for James so she could understand his hesitancy to immediately agree to move out even though she hadn't seen it coming. Of course he didn't want to leave his elderly parents to live at home by themselves, especially after Fleamont's accident.

As much as she loathed to admit it, he also had a point about her mum. If her mum were still alive, she wouldn't have brought up this conversation as soon as she did, in fact she probably would have waited from him to say something first.

She nodded and his face relaxed as he brought her in to sit on his lap. "You know, I love you," he whispered in her ear sending something warm through her entire body.

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close because she did know and she was so, so terribly, audaciously lucky.

* * *

It was time. He was kicked out of the house by his own mother to go be with Ella because it was "really sweet of you, dear, to stay at home to be there for Lily and James but you've barely seen Ella in two weeks!" Little did she know that that was the whole point of coming home — to avoid Ella and to be able to just think away from her expectant stares. The stare that told him he should know what to do but he didn't know what to do. How could he know what to do?

He had three options; the first two were the more realistic options and the third would be what he considered the lucky option. Option one was to stay, screw it all up and resent everything in ten years becoming a worse parent than his own parents. Option two was to leave and let Ella raise the baby alone. Option three was to stay and have everything turn out fine — it wouldn't be the life he'd ever imagined for himself but he'd have a woman who loved him and a kid to adore.

Sirius never considered himself lucky. Lucky people don't end up with racist families who disinherit them but Sirius thought it was time to go on a bit of faith so it was with a hesitant step that he pushed open the door to his and Ella's apartment. He knew she'd be home, he'd confirmed with Marlene who'd looked at him with a knowing and proud smile.

"Marls, is that you? I haven't got lunch ready yet! You're early and — oh," she came out of their bedroom and stopped short staring at Sirius from the end of the corridor and this was why he had to try.

The very sight of her had his mind working in overdrive. She wasn't even anything special in an old pair of pyjamas with a stain on the chest and bed hair that rivalled James' normal hair and yet Sirius couldn't think one rational thought.

"Sirius," she breathed, her face full of hope and relief all in one, as though she'd known he'd come and yet had been scared he wouldn't at the same time. "You're here."

"I'm here and I'm in." He closed the door behind him and stepped closer towards her.

"What?"

"You asked if I was in or out and I'm in. I'm all in, baby."

"Really?"

"I'm still scared out of my wits to do this but I'm going to try, okay? I'm going to try and do this and be better than what I had because that's," he stopped for a second, he'd never said it out loud and now it seemed like it fit perfectly, "that's our baby."

Ella's face lit up in happiness as she rushed up to him and wrapped her legs around his waist as he caught her with an 'omph'. She kissed him deeply the kiss holding everything she couldn't say. T _hank you for not leaving. Thank you for being the man I love. Thank you for showing up_. And so Sirius poured everything he couldn't say into the kiss back. _I'm sorry for leaving at all. I'm sorry for making you wait. I'm sorry for doubting that this could work_.

"I love you," she whispered into his lips.

"I love you, too."

"Does this mean we have to start telling people?" Ella scrunched up her face. "I mean, how do you think Mr and Mrs Potter will take it?"

Sirius chuckled as he let her slide her feet to the floor. "You know, you can call them Mia and Monty. Lily does."

"But how do you think they'd take it?"

Sirius shrugged. "Not much they can do about it now, is there?" But at the worried look on Ella's face he added, "I'm sure Mia will have knitted the baby an entire wardrobe by the time it's born."

"So you think she'll be happy about it?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "I do."

Everyone's reaction — save Marlene and James who decided acting mock surprised was the best way to go — was genuinely surprised to the news when they casually announced it at a Sunday lunch at the Potters.

"You're — what! Oh my god!" Lily squealed, completely gobsmacked in Sirius' opinion before she threw her arms around both Ella and Sirius. "Congratulations!"

"Yes, congratulations to this completely shocking news," James agreed, stepping in to join the hug. Sirius elbowed him and Lily smacked him lightly on the arm conveying disbelief that he didn't tell her.

"Wow guys, jumping the wand much," Frank teased, clapping Sirius on the back.

"Had to win at something," Sirius shrugged. "You guys got married, we got knocked-up."

"What are you winning at exactly?" Marlene quirked a brow.

"Uh, being an adult."

"Yeah, I think that's still going to come with time," Ella said.

Lunch was then filled with when did they find out and why didn't they tell everyone sooner and Euphemia had the house elves whip up a cake for dessert to celebrate and Fleamont brought out a sixty year old bottle of champagne. Despite all this though, something didn't feel … right and it wasn't just the fact that Remus wasn't there. He felt like there was something everyone wasn't saying.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked his surrogate mother when he was helping her clear the kitchen. She had been gracious to Ella — had even taken the news considerably well and to an eye that didn't know Euphemia Potter, nothing at all was wrong. But Sirius Black was an eye that knew Euphemia. He could tell from the slightest hum in her voice, the slightly disappointed look in her eye that all was not as it seemed.

"Hmm?" she asked, busying herself with putting leftovers in the fridge.

"I know that Ella being pregnant isn't, well, ideal but we're going to make it work."

"I know you'll try, sweetie."

Sirius bit the corner of his lip. "So you don't think we can make it work. Why?"

"It's not that I don't think you can make it work … it's that I do."

Sirius furrowed his brows. "You've lost me. You're not happy about the fact that Ella and I can have a baby and make it work?"

"I'm not happy about the fact that you won't be happy." Euphemia finally turned to look at her son. "Ella is lovely but I never saw you two making it long term."

"I — you don't know anything about us." Sirius crossed his arms across his chest and stared stoically at the wall beside Euphemia's head.

"That may be true and, Sirius, it's not that I have any ill-wish towards Ella or you-"

"But you just think we shouldn't be together."

"I think you two are what each other need for right now. Maybe one day you'll understand or maybe we'll find I'm completely wrong, in which case I give you full consent to say 'I told you so'."

Sirius frowned not sure what to make of all of this so he latched onto something else. "What about the baby? Are you happy about the baby?"

"Of course," she grinned from ear to ear, "Ideal or not, that's my grand baby."

* * *

Marlene was having the worst day she could remember having in a long time. The emergency room was full of patients sick with flus and common colds and it was all she could do to see the first patient out of the exam room before the second one came rushing in. With her wand perched in her hair, Marlene was finally going to have a fifteen minute break. She was going to change out of the filthy scrubs that have been sneezed and coughed on one too many times and she was going to eat a sandwich and down it with a soothing cup of tea and honey.

"Healer Adams? Patient in exam room four is requesting you."

Merlin have mercy, she didn't even make it three steps out of her own exam room. She hesitated. "No one else can take it?"

The nurse smiled in an odd way and said, "You'll want to take this."

Marlene shrugged, maybe it was a good case. Maybe it was something that would make administering pepper ups to people all day worth it. She walked over to exam room four, glancing at the chart the nurse handed her and entered. She spared a moment to glance at the name and froze in the doorway.

"Professor Dumbledore," she said completely gobsmacked because in exam room four sat the elderly Headmaster in his usual outrageous robes (an almost pink colour this time) and cool as can be.

"I was hoping we could talk."

"Oh, er, now's not a great time, the emergency room is packed and-"

"I do have a terrible cough if you'd be so kind to take a look," Professor Dumbledore said with the added effect of a fake cough. Marlene didn't know whether to laugh or have the ground swallow her up. Fake or not, she felt entirely under qualified to be examining Albus Dumbledore — the greatest wizard of their time — for anything.

Marlene looked around hoping for something or someone to save her and when nothing and no one came forward she nodded. "Very well." She pulled out her wand and started a few standard tests. "You said you wanted to talk?" Marlene prompted.

"It's come to my knowledge that you're not sure of your place in the Order and I hope you can forgive me for waiting so long but I do have a role for you."

"To heal people off the books after missions, I know but I was hoping-"

"For a larger role," Dumbledore smiled knowingly. "And you're correct, healing people off the books is part of your role but I see that more as a perk, an extra skill on top of what I really want you to do." He paused for such a long time that Marlene was about to open her mouth to ask when he answered. "I want you to recruit people. I looked into Maria Matthews and Steven Socha and they're a good fit. I remember Mr Socha from Hogwarts — terribly bright student — and Miss Matthews has a glowing recommendation from Beauxbatons. I would be immensely grateful if you could ask them to join and if they accept, introduce them to the Order."

Marlene's arm fell to her side as she stood gobsmacked at Professor Dumbledore. "You want me to recruit people into your very, super secret organisation?"

"Yes, Miss Adams. I'm not all together interested in the skill sets people can learn though they are wonderful perks. I'm more concerned in the attributes someone is born with. Anyone can learn to defend themselves. Anyone can learn to heal but not everyone can read people. Not everyone can talk to a person once and know, without doubt, if they are good or bad. Miss Adams, I believe you have that attribute which is why I hope you accept."

It was a lot for him to ask. One wrong recruit, one mistake could cost the Order everything it stood for. "I have a choice?"

"Of course."

"What — what would this involve exactly?"

"If existing members want to recommend someone, you will check this person out, look into the history, evaluate what you think they could bring to the Order and offer them a chance to fight. Of course all final recruits need to be approved by me."

Marlene nodded, though unsure and said, "Okay," and as soon as she agreed it felt like a weight lifted off her shoulders. She finally knew her true role in the Order.

"Wonderful. I expect to be introduced to Miss Matthews and Mr Socha at your earliest convenience. Have a good day, Miss Adams."

* * *

Lily was lounging with Ella in the new apartment and new it was to Lily because with all that had been going on, she hadn't the chance to properly stop by since her and James helped with their boxes. Of course, it was slightly out of the box of what Lily expected and it wasn't because of the muggle posters hanging on the walls or the sleek leather couches or the glass coffee table but rather the three books sitting on said coffee table. _What To Expect When You're Expecting_ by Natasha Donovan. _Raising Magical Babies_ by Helen Burns. _Pregnancy Sucks_ by Ruth Mills. Lily picked up the last book and showed it to Ella with raised brows.

"A really good read, actually," Ella said. "The witch at Flourish and Blotts raved about it and said after reading this one I wouldn't need the other two."

"And?"

"She was right."

Lily aimlessly flicked through the book, absorbing absolutely nothing from it before putting it down and standing up.

"Leaving already?" Ella asked.

"Got to get to headquarters and update Gid. You can come if you like, leave them," she gestured to whatever James and Sirius were working on in the kitchen, "To collude in peace."

Ella laughed and agreed so when they walked into Headquarters they were still talking lightly about Ella's fears of becoming a mum and Lily doing her best to assure her. They walked down into the kitchen to a rather tense scene of Moody and Fenwick yelling at each other.

"Er, is Gid around?" Lily interrupted them.

"No — no one is around and we've an emergency," Moody barked.

"What kind of emergency?" Ella asked.

"A house with the dark mark over it. Muggle area. We need someone to investigate but no one is available."

Lily and Ella glanced at each other and then Ella stepped forward. "We're available."

Moody eyed them. "Like I said, no one's available."

"We just said we were," Ella fought.

"You've no experience in the field."

"And we're not going to if you keep benching us. We can do this," Ella fought. "Besides you said the Dark Mark was up which means the Death Eaters have moved on already and it's just an empty house."

It wasn't just an empty house. The scene was horrific and Lily clasped Ella's hand tightly as they walked through. The front door had been blasted opened, it lay flat on the floor wobbling precariously as they stepped on it. The telly in the living room was still running, the latest newsreel talking about the unexpected traffic on a freeway. Four people sat slumped at the dinner table and Lily's breath hitched.

The oldest man was only in his mid thirties but his eyes were blank, the terrified look on his face forever there, looking at his wife. She was pretty with blonde perfectly permed hair — she reminded Lily of Petunia — and the scared look on her face like a scar distorting her face, the last thing she saw the faces of her children. They were little — too little to die. Only around eight and ten, Lily guessed. This perfect little family. They would have been picturesque. The dad with the pretty wife. A son and a daughter. The perfect set.

They were just eating dinner and a flash of Lily's mother stabbing herself to save Lily and James flashed into her mind. They had just been eating dinner too.

Ella squeezed Lily's hand tightly before letting go. "We have to figure out who they were," Ella whispered so quietly because noise would surely disrupt this place.

They separated, Lily to the keys and wallet on the bench and Ella to a handbag by the living room door. Lily opened the wallet and pulled out the driver's license. Mark Roberts. 34. A creak in the floors had Lily dropping the wallet and whirling around with her wand up only to sigh.

"Damn it, Ella," she hissed. To say her nerves were on edge was an understatement.

"Sorry. Her name is Eva Roberts. 32. The place seems muggle."

Lily nodded in agreement but before she could say anything the floorboards creaked again and out of the hallway stepped in Severus Snape only to face the wand of Lily Evans.

Her body was so tense she may as well have been a statue. The both of them stood staring at each other, one pleading for forgiveness with his sad, black eyes, and the other burning every memory she could ever remember with him. Gone were all the times they lay on the grass counting clouds as children, gone were all the times they sat under the willows by the lake doing homework together and gone were all the reasons why she thought he deserved to live.

"Lily," he pleaded and God he sounded so pathetic and the second her name was out of his lips, her fist collided with his eye because he didn't have the right to say her name at all, least of all like that.

"That is for telling _him_ where I live!" She pushed her fist forward again, the sickening crush of his nose giving her satisfaction she never thought she could feel. She was about to hit him again but his mouth opened.

"I didn't. I would _never_." He sounded like he believed it and it made her so angry that fists weren't enough. She wanted to decimate him.

"Spare me the fucking lies, Snape! She's dead because of you! He killed my mother because of you!"

"I didn't tell the Dark Lord where you live. I don't know how he found out."

"Fuck off, Snape," Ella hissed, "Before we cut off whatever is left of your balls."

"No one asked you, blood traitor," he said with such venom in his voice and then turning sickeningly sweet again as he looked at Lily. "I promise you, I didn't do this."

"You also promised me that the magical world was fantastic! That everyone in it was wonderful! That it was _magic_! And that was all bullshit! Fucking bullshit! This world is just like everything else! It's shit, and cruel, and manipulative and I _hate_ you! I hate you down to my very core because you told a little girl that she had nothing to fear about this new _magical_ world but I did! I did and you knew it! In fact you were the very person I had to fear and you fooled me time and time again. Well, no more! So say whatever the hell you want to me but just know that I know everything you say is utter bullshit and I blame you."

"And why wouldn't I!" Lily shouted as he stared at her unable to stop. "Look at what you and the people you've allied yourself with do! This family — this young family who were just trying to eat dinner — what the hell did they ever do to you! What threat could they have possibly posed!" They both stared at each other and then his eyes flickered to Ella as though begging for a way out.

"Don't look at me you sack of shit. Answer her."

"I — I — Lily, please-"

"Don't say my name and answer the fucking question! Better yet! Why don't I answer it for you?" she proposed. "Which one of the kids were muggle-born?"

"Blood traitors," Snape whispered. "She was my cousin."

"So you were just pruning your family tree," Lily said disgusted.

"I was," he agreed. "And if you stay with Potter, you will forever be targeted. The Potter's have enemies and they'll come after you. You should get out of the country, Lily. Leave him and save yourself."

"I'm not a coward like you so hear this. We are done." Lily turned to Ella. "Let's go. We know what we needed to know."

Ella grabbed Lily's hand and with a twist and a crack they were in Ella's apartment and Lily looked around for a moment as her body released all the tension and a statue she was no longer. A cry escaped her lips and it sounded so strangled and angry and loud, bouncing off of the walls so long it would haunt all who heard it.

In the other room, James and Sirius glanced at each other before jumping up and scrambling into the living room. They found Lily clutching at her head, crying. Crying like the whole god damned world was falling apart around her.

"What happened?" James shouted at Ella whilst approaching Lily but she stepped back from him.

"No, no, no!" she cried. "I can't — I can't!"

"It's Snape — he was there and they had it out. It was bad."

"Weren't you at Headquarters?" Sirius asked but James waved him off. The how wasn't important at the moment.

"Lily — Lils," James said, stepping closer to her. He didn't know how to help her, he wasn't even sure what happened but what he did know was that he had to find a way because she was breaking in front of him. Tears streamed down her red blotched, face and her hair was frazzled and wild.

"I can't," she shouted at him. James noticed from the corner of his eye Ella and Sirius leaving the room.

"Can't what?"

"Everyone's gone! They've taken everything from me! Everything!" she screamed. "Petunia, my innocence, Snape, my mum! And one day they're going to take you too! They kill everything good! Everyone good!"

James stepped forward and grabbed her hands. "They couldn't pry me away from you with the force of the universe if they had it, Evans."

Lily looked up into his eyes and licked her lips, shaking her head. "You don't know that."

"I do," he told her. "Because I don't want to be here if I'm not with you. So I do know."

"You don't — you don't," she didn't know if she was saying it as a sentence or a plead for him to prove her wrong. "You're all I have left."

"That's right," James agreed. "You have me and one day, we're going to get married and have kids and have a family of our own because me and you, we're gonna change the world."

"You can't know that," Lily sniffed.

James studied her for a moment, wiping her tears away with his thumbs and fixing her hair. "I do because I believe in us and we're not going to stop until we're safe. You hear me?"

She wouldn't look him in the eyes so he cupped her face, his whole world in his hands, "Hey," he said softly, "Do you hear me?"

She looked up into his sun filled eyes and nodded her head. James sighed in relief and pulled her into a hug as she let out another sob. "I hear you, I hear you, I hear you," she repeated, into his neck.

* * *

Remus needed an excuse to leave the underground which is fine because it wasn't unusual for people to leave the sanctuary only that it was unusual for Remus to leave. He decided to bank his excuse with Haley. She was nice and he hoped she could understand his fake excuse of leaving to visit his parents without too many questions and as though scripted, she said, "Of course, I'll cover for you."

Remus left the sanctuary with his hood pulled up and walked three blocks before finding a quiet, secluded alley to apparate from. He landed in Knockturn Alley and shivered. He did always hate the creepy lane with it's dark shops displaying human skulls and animal skeletons. He glanced around the alley and didn't know whether to feel comforted or worried that there was no one else in sight. Pushing it aside, he walked into the grimy tavern he'd apparated in front of. _Skull and Bone_ was even dirtier than the Hog's Head. Sticky tables were placed around with no specific order with stools shoved underneath and everyone in here wore their cloaks drawn up and hoods up. Remus stuck his hand in his pocket, his fingers wrapped around his wand just in case as he surveyed the room for James.

Before his gaze could wonder too far, he spotted a pair of glasses peaking out of a hood with two pints on the table in front of him. Remus made his way over and slid into the opposite seat. He went to pick up the pint but James stopped him.

"I wouldn't drink unless you fancy a trip to Mungo's."

Remus smirked and put the drink down. "It's good to see you, James."

"And you. Are you alright? You haven't run into any trouble have you? Because if you have I'm totally down for acting as a werewolf to kick some butt."

Remus smiled because he knew James would — they all would — and it filled his heart to know he had friends like that. "Please, anyone who messes with me isn't going to be scared of you."

James laughed. "All right, you got me," James conceded. "But really, how is it?"

Remus shrugged. "It's a bit like camping except underground so it stinks something awful. Haven't found out much news that could help the Order yet though. Still too new but I've made a few … acquaintances. Jim and Chris Richmond, steal off the rich. And a lady, Haley Daniels. She's American."

James' eyebrows shot up. "What's she doing here then?"

Remus shrugged, "She said she was travelling."

"Hell of a time to come. Doesn't she know we're in a war?"

Remus shrugged again. "She might just be passing through but she hasn't said anything about moving on from England yet and it's been a week."

"All right well keep being careful. Don't let your guard down. Nobody really expected you to have news yet but the quicker you do-"

"The quicker I can get out," Remus nodded, "I know. I'm doing my best."

James nodded. "I know you are. Now, would you like some news about the outside?"

Remus nodded and so James started with Ella and Sirius being knocked up which irked Remus to no end. Sirius with a baby. That ought to be interesting. Then came a bout of apologies when James told Remus of Fleamont's recent injuries. And then came joy.

"You're really going to propose?"

James nodded with a shy grin. "Yeah. I just, I needed you to know before I did."

Remus smiled slyly, "Hopefully she says yes the first time, aye?"

"Oh sod off, you prick."

* * *

Alice slipped into the huge hall with no disguise. She wore navy robes tied at her waist and heels that were not the best choice for an undercover mission. She'd been chosen not because they believed she could do this but because she was the only one with a legitimate reason to be there despite her true loyalties.

Alice would never had accepted the invitation in normal circumstances but as it had it, she and Emmeline decided to show the Order at an impromptu meeting that consisted of Alice, Emmeline, Frank, Moody and the Prewett brothers.

"She's a competent fighter," Moody said. "She's top of her class."

"She's only in first year!" Emmeline argued.

"It's simple recon, she'll be in, see what the lunatic has to say and out," Frank pointed out. "There wouldn't be any fighting involved."

Alice, bored with their pointless arguing, said, "I can do this, Emmy. I know the risks."

So Alice found herself in the midst of would-be Death Eaters, people who sympathised with Voldemort's cause and she sat at a seat ten rows from the back. The room was large, with a grand domed ceiling and a raised stage at the end of it.

The invitation that had arrived by owl was in her pocket and despite the proof that she could be here, Alice couldn't help feeling out of place. It wasn't because she was surrounded by people she didn't know, it was because she was surrounded by people she _did_ know. The Aitken sisters, Snape, Avery, the Mulciber brothers, and even one or two people from families who didn't outwardly agree with Voldemort, the most surprising of all being James' cousins, Isabella and Eliza Greenglass. The latter at least look more nervous being there but Isabella looked perfectly at home.

Before she had time to dwell on it, Alice's own cousin stepped out onto the stage and started a long winded speech that made Alice want to roll her eyes. Bellatrix talked about how muggle-borns were ruining wizarding traditions and culture and how they were stealing jobs off of pure-bloods. She badmouthed the Ministry for having a five percent increase in muggle-born hires whereas Alice wondered why the Ministry even kept track of whether an employee was pure-blood, half-blood or muggle-born. As Bellatrix continued, Alice pursed her lips in distaste. Bellatrix made muggle-borns sound like criminals and she was convincing at it. More than half the people in the room, Alice could tell, bought into the bullshit Bellatrix was spreading.

Bellatrix speech finished with a flourish. "I implore you, my friends, my family, to think for yourselves about any time a muggle-born _stole_ from you!" Bellatrix stepped down from the podium as house elves appeared with trays of refreshments and drinks. Alice stood, her chair disappearing and the scene changed to a more social gathering where everyone drew together in groups, chatting and gossiping.

"I'm glad you came, cousin." Alice barely tensed as she turned to face Bellatrix. "I fear your sister is lost and I was afraid for you when you joined the Aurors, but I see now, I needn't have been so worried."

"I'm open to all possibilities," Alice said through a smile. _Like the fact you're an adnominal psychopath._ "I was glad for the invitation."

"We are about to find out who our true supporters are," Bellatrix said. "We've big plans today. The beginning."

"Beginning of what?"

"We want muggles gone so we've staged a few _demonstrations_ to show how inferior muggles really are. To show how weak they are."

"Oh," Alice said, "Anywhere I should, uh, steer clear of?"

Bellatrix looked at her calculating for a moment and then, "Burlington Arcade."

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone! new chapter and hopefully the next one will be up sooner than usual because i do have the next two chapters pretty much done, I'm just messing around with the order of certain events mostly._

 _THANK YOU FOR READING!_

 _Anyway I hope you enjoy! Please review!_

 _-Natalie xx_


	36. Chapter 35: Duty Calls

"Shh, shh, shh," he grinned placing one finger on her lips as his other hand tickled her side. She wormed underneath him, trying to get him off and trying to squelch her squealing.

"James," she heaved, through suppressed laughter.

"Just admit that you stole the blankets last night and this will all stop," James insisted and Lily shook her head.

"I like to see it more as you _gave_ them to me," she quipped and his hands dug into her sides again and she let out a loud laugh. His face buried into her neck, his hair tickling her cheek as she tried to push him off. "James," she squealed.

"Just admit it," he kissed her neck softly, his hands stopping their attack and instead caressing her body under her pyjama shirt. He kissed down her neck slowly before making his way back up and Lily was going to meet his lips with her own—

"James! Lily! Are you up? Breakfast has been sitting out for an hour!" came Euphemia's voice from down the hall and James dropped his head, groaning before rolling off of Lily.

Lily rolled towards him, resting her arm on his chest and playing with his hair. "There's a lot we should do today," Lily said quietly.

"Hmm, like what?"

"Like the potion and trying to — James!" she protested with a laugh and a small yank of his hair as he feigned falling asleep.

"I'm off on a Friday and you're off on a Friday," James pointed out. "Which makes it the perfect day to…?"

"Catch up on things we're behind on," Lily offered.

James frowned. "No, Evans. You're such a wand in the mud sometimes." She yanked his hair again before rolling completely on top of him so her face was hovering over his.

"Maybe I can demonstrate some of the things we're behind on," she suggested innocently as she slowly rolled her hips on his.

"Oh, you minx!" he grinned, grabbing her arse.

"Not such a wand in the mud now, am I?" she teased, pressing soft kisses to his lips.

"Whoever said that is a daft idiot," James agreed and she laughed prettily.

"James!" Euphemia shouted again and Lily sighed sitting up straight, a leg on either side of him. "It's past twelve!"

"Maybe if we have breakfast she'll leave us alone," James suggested with false hope.

"I think it's more like lunch at this time."

"Still, she might leave us alone."

"James, you promised you would help clean out the spare room upstairs!" Euphemia shouted again.

"And maybe not," Lily sighed. She bent down, pecking his lips before rolling all the way out of bed.

"Oi, where are you going?"

"To breakfast before your mum comes in here and catches us fooling around."

"You know she knows that we share a bed."

"Yes but she doesn't know what we do in bed and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Oh! The horror! Two teenagers .. in a prolonged relationship … in bed … fully clothed! What ever will we do?" he gasped and sighed in a mock faint and Lily folded her arms and stared at him with a raised brow.

"Are you done?"

Whilst James spilled into a monologue of whether he would ever truly be 'done' Lily changed, shaking her head and contributing a witty remark when required.

"It amazes me that you can spew absolute nonsense for five minutes straight."

"Really? That's what amazes you?"

"Not really but I think if I didn't block out your nonsense the moment you started, we'd have broken up five years ago."

"We haven't even been together for five years."

"Exactly."

"Now who's spewing nonsense."

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, attempting to tug him out of bed. "Come on, get changed," she insisted.

Lily almost shrieked when a deep, cranky voice shouted from behind her but James shot out of bed as they listened to the patronus. Duty called.

* * *

Ella picked up a stuffed animal and firmly said, "Animal theme."

Sirius shook his head, picking up a toy broom and said, "Quidditch theme."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"No," Ella shook her head. "Quidditch is a sport not a theme."

"And animals are animals, not a theme and if our kid is going to be the best Quidditch player in the history of Hogwarts-"

"And who says our kid wants to be the best Quidditch player in the history of Hogwarts?"

Sirius gasped dramatically. "My child will love Quidditch."

Ella shook her head, "Be as it may, I'm still not agreeing to a Quidditch themed nursery."

"I thought we were talking about the baby's room. What the hell is a nursery?"

"A nursery _is_ a baby's room. Have you even read one book I asked you to?"

"I don't understand why there's another name for a baby's room."

Ella shook her head exasperated, then paused to glance around at all the things they still needed to get. There was so much. A cot, a change table, a stroller, a high chair, a bouncer, clothes, blankets, bottles. It was all so overwhelming.

Suddenly there was a shout from Sirius' pocket and Ella rolled her eyes. "You know the amount of times you two talk to each other in a day, you'd think you two were having a baby."

Sirius just smirked at her as he pulled the mirror out. "What's up Prongs?"

"Get to Burlington Arcade now. Moody just got tipped off that Death Eaters are planning to attack there today. Moody says muggle clothing if you can."

"I'll be there," Sirius assured him.

"Quick as you can," James urged. "We don't know when they'll strike."

Sirius nodded before turning to Ella. "Here, take this. I'll contact you through James'. Just get to the apartment or Headquarters or, or go back to work I suppose."

"What do you mean? Sirius, I'm coming with you."

"Ella, you're pregnant."

"No one can even tell."

"It's not about whether people can tell, it's about you not getting hurt and putting the baby at risk."

Ella glared at him. "Don't ask me to sit this out."

Sirius glared right back at her. "I'm not asking I'm telling. You're sitting this out."

"Well, you're wrong because even if you leave me behind, I'll just apparate on my own."

Sirius sighed. "You're right." He traced his fingers up her arm, trailing up and down, before pulling her into a hug. "I'm just worried for you."

"You don't need to be worried. I'll be fine," she assured him.

"You're right. You will be." He stepped away from her, holding up her wand. "I'll call with updates."

"Sirius Black, don't you-"

He didn't wait to hear her idle threat and instead apparated to Burlington Arcade.

* * *

She missed her brother and it was strange that despite both of them working in London she barely saw him ever since he'd moved out. She could hardly refuse when he'd suggested lunch over the phone at Burly Arcade, the shopping centre of so many weekend outings to London when she was little.

She made sure all her different supervisors knew that she had to take her lunch break at exactly twelve and as soon as the clock chimed she found herself apparating to the spot they'd agreed to meet: a dirty alley out of sight from the main road.

"You know, I don't quite know how I feel about my baby sister appearing in questionable alleys where anyone could be lurking," Charles cool voice spoke from behind her. She whirled around with a smile on her face and pulled him in for a hug.

"I'm not a baby and I'd turn anyone into a toad if they tried anything funny."

"That I'd like to see. Ready to head in?"

"No I thought lunch in this alley seemed rather lovely."

He nudged her and they made their way out of the alley, talking about nothing in particular until they reached a cafe just at the entrance of the arcade. They settled in ordering themselves a drink and meal.

"So, how's Liza?" Marlene asked. "You haven't brought her around in a while."

Charlie shrugged. "She's been busy and uh, well, things, uh, haven't been going stellar at the, uh, at the moment."

"Oh, Charlie," Marlene sighed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think we yell about it enough," Charles said.

"Okay, well, if you ever want to talk about it…I'm here."

"I know. How's the McKinnons' doing?"

Marlene shrugged. "They're doing okay. Faith and Steve moved out of Chudleigh."

"Where to?"

"A wizarding town near Swansea. Nate and I helped them move some of their stuff."

"So you two are still together then?"

"We are," Marlene agreed, looking towards the street and furrowing her brow. A man with elegant black hair wearing a QUEEN t-shirt with a black leather jacket and a face of uncanny resemblance to Sirius Black just walked passed but that was obviously absurd. Sirius Black wouldn't be in the middle of muggle London. It had to be someone who just looked like him and had a crazily similar jacket and sense of style. Marlene shuddered at the thought of two Sirius Black's in the world.

"Marls," Charles snapped his fingers in front of her face and she turned back to him.

"Sorry, what?"

"I was asking how work was."

"Oh, right. Sorry. It's good, just waiting for some exam results to come back so I can progress to the next stage." Marlene rolled her eyes, "They're taking their sweet time getting the results out but Healer Wright assures us they should be out sometime in the next fortnight."

"Probably on the fourteenth day then."

"Probably," Marlene agreed. She looked up as the waitress approached their table with their food and drinks and squinted because that — without question — was Dorcas Meadowes walking into the arcade. She was unmissable and for god's sake she was wearing a tremendously hideous poncho that may as well have been the modern day robe — if there were anything modern about robes in the first place.

"And what a lovely hairpin," the waitress complimented Marlene. Her 'hairpin' was her wand.

"Thanks," Marlene said, distracted. "Charlie, I'm just gonna go to the loo."

"But the food just got here."

"I'll be back in a minute," Marlene promised. "And don't eat my fries. I'll know if you did."

"Yeah, yeah, go on then."

Marlene left the cafe quickly, entering the arcade, her eyes scanning and with a feeling like she was going to need her 'hairpin' soon.

* * *

Adaline, Alice and Frank popped into a cleaning closet within Burlington Arcade and immediately started hitting elbows and legs with each other, walls, and broom sticks.

"This closet so does not fit three."

"I think you'd find that technically, it does," Frank muttered as Alice opened the door. The three of them fell out and Adaline shivered, brushing dust off her jacket.

"I don't know what excuse I'm going to put in at work for ditching during lunch," Adaline muttered.

"You'll come up with something."

"Easy for you to say! You report to Moody. He's in the Order!"

"You'll be right," Alice assured. "See anyone yet?"

"We're supposed to blend," Frank pointed out.

"Doesn't mean it wouldn't be good to know where others are." Alice looked around the mall and shuddered.

The corridor was narrow, lined with glass faced shops and people were everywhere. Teenagers, mothers with small children, elderly people. Alice hoped that Moody's tip would be wrong because whilst they may be able to help save some of these people, they wouldn't be able to save them all.

"Alice — Alice Vance?"

Alice whirled around and she frowned. "Isn't that….?"

"Marlene's brother. Yeah," Adaline finished matching Alice's frown.

"That is you, right? Alice Vance?"

Alice nodded, "Yeah, it's me, Charles. Only I'm Alice Longbottom now. You remember, Della?" Alice asked nudging Adaline and then gesturing to Frank, "My husband Frank. I don't think you've met before". Charles greeted Adaline and shook Frank's hand before Alice asked, "So what are you doing here?"

Charles quirked his eyebrow up. "Oh well, I was having lunch with Marlene until she went to the loo about ten minutes ago. I just came to see if I could find her but I should be asking you that! On my turf and all."

Alice laughed, "Ha, yeah. So, uh, Marlene's here?" Had anyone told Marlene yet? If someone had why hadn't she sent Charles on his way?

"Yeah, somewhere. You haven't seen her by any chance?"

"No, I haven't but Charles, you should get out of here."

Charles pulled a face, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you should get out of the arcade. Go back to work or home or whatever."

"Is something," he looked hesitant, "Is something happening with you — oh, isn't that your other friend? Shoot, I can't remember her name! Er, Livy — no — Lib — Lizzy?"

Frank nudged Alice and gestured to a red head in a brown leather jacket. Lily was walking hand in hand with James, blending right into the crowd. "Lily," Alice corrected Charles. "But look, you really should get out of here. I'll find Marlene and let her know but you should go."

"Am I missing-"

The rest of his sentence was drowned out by an almighty crash followed by shouts and screams.

* * *

In the last week, Remus and Haley Daniels had become allies, Remus might even stretch it to say friends and though he was no closer to finding out the allegiance of werewolves, she made living in this place better.

"Okay so chocolate or ice cream?"

"Chocolate."

"Chocolate or liquorice wands?"

"Chocolate."

"Chocolate-"

"Look anything up against chocolate is going to be chocolate. Specifically Honeyduke's."

Haley frowned. "Chocolate is good but I don't know if it's _that_ good."

"Oh it is," Remus assured her and she shook her head. They'd gotten into playing silly games like this to pass the time. "We'll have to get our hands on some Honeyduke's so you can be enlightened to the wonder."

"You're so dramatic. Oh, I like this song," Haley hummed quietly to the tune that someone's wireless was playing.

"You haven't met my friends. They're a dramatic bunch."

"You guys close then?"

"Very. Friends since first year and I don't think there's anyone in the world I trust more than them."

"Tell me about them."

"Well, first there's Peter. He's subtle but brilliant, can find out anything you want to know. Then there's Sirius. He's the most dramatic person I've ever met in my life and stubborn as hell. To his friends he's the kindest, most loyal person but to everyone else he comes off a bit harsh but that's just Sirius. James is probably the leader. We'd never admit it, it's just there. If James told us to do something we'd do it no questions asked. He's just — it's like he's a mix of us. He's brilliant, dramatic, funny — maybe a little too egotistical but Lily's helped him deflate — and he's probably the most loyal out of all of us, you know? He's just … James."

"He's the glue," Haley offered.

"Yeah, yeah he is."

"He's got a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, she's great. Lily's beautiful, funny and one of the kindest people I've ever met. James had been practically in love with her for at least three years before they got together. I'm pretty sure the whole school was betting on it — in fact, I think the teachers were betting on it."

"What changed her mind?"

"They had to work together a lot in seventh year — they were Head Boy and Head Girl — and some stuff went down and I guess she realised she liked him like that too and the rest is history. She's basically an honorary Marauder now."

"What the hell is a marauder?"

Remus flushed, "It's the name we gave ourselves."

"You gave your friend group a name?" Haley asked with an amused smirk. "Wow, you really are a dramatic lot."

"What about you?" he nudged her leg.

"What about me?"

"What are your friends like?"

"I — well — I don't have friends like that."

"What do you mean?"

"When I stopped going to school, the rumour started going around that I was a werewolf and even though it was only a rumour my friends, well, they all stopped talking to me." Haley shrugged. "I mean I was never close with them. I only ever saw them at school and I would never get invited to their houses in the summer and they'd always decline my invitations — except Rachel. She was such a sweet heart but after being bitten even she stopped trying. Even if they didn't know, I doubt we'd have kept in touch. You're lucky that they don't know."

"You kidding? They found out within my first year."

"Oh."

He didn't know what it would feel like to not have a friend that you could share everything with no matter what because he'd had that since he was eleven. He knew that he could tell them that he'd murdered someone and they'd have a five point plan on how and where to bury the body.

"I'm sorry."

"For having better friends than I ever did?"

"Well no but for them. Clearly they weren't very nice people."

"They were nice enough."

Remus shrugged, "Sometimes enough doesn't cut it."

She looked down, playing with the hem of her robe. "It's not like I had no one. My parents were great and they paid for me to get the best medical attention and they helped me study at home and after school, it became pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to get a job — you know how it is — so they gave me money to travel and see the world. In a way, I became closer with them and with my brother. He's probably my best friend. Him and his best friend Summer. We've gotten pretty close."

"It's funny how we have the opposite problems. My parents — they love me but this didn't make us closer. I always felt like a burden to them but I've got friends who don't care what I am and then you-"

"Have a close family but no friends. Seems this curse has taken its toll in different ways."

"I'm sure that's true for everyone." He waited a beat, letting the song on the wireless fill the silence for a moment. "If you ever meet my friends, they'd love you."

"There you go, being dramatic again."

"I'm not."

"Hmm, what do your friends do now?"

"Sirius is happily unemployed and living off the small fortune his uncle left him. James' mum is slowly roping him into doing activist work. His girlfriend is pregnant, actually so that'll be interesting — she works for the Ministry. James plays professional Quidditch for Puddlemere and Peter works at his father's shop in Diagon Alley."

"What about Lily?"

"She works for the Ministry, too. Charms development, specifically."

"Does the war affect them much?"

"As much as it affects anyone else," Remus replied vaguely.

The music cut out on the wireless, replaced by a wizard speaking quickly.

"Oi, turn that up!"

" _A muggle shopping centre in central London has been attacked by You Know Who's followers and whilst sounds of battle can be heard, Ministry officials have declined to answer on their involvement._ "

Remus' stomach sunk. Were his friends in there?

* * *

Marlene was scanning the crowd for the familiar faces she was sure she had seen. Meadowes and Black had to be around _somewhere_ but the arcade was so crowded that it was hard to see over heads. Marlene walked halfway in, an anxious feeling brooding in her stomach and she was suddenly very conscious about the wand stuck in her hair, as though suddenly it had neon lights and it was all she could think about.

A loud crash sounded, with a cloud of dust filling the arcade as people shouted. The next sound of wizards cracking into appearance had Marlene whipping her wand out from her hair and attacking. Marlene had no idea what was going on but she knew that these muggles were under attack. Marlene looked around, trying to find anyone that could help her figure out what was going on.

Suddenly, a Death Eater was facing her, wand raised and it looked terrifying. They wore masks that looked like white skulls to hide their identities and Marlene had to close her eyes. _It's just a person, just a person, just a person._ She opened her eyes, squaring up as though she were back in the walls of Hogwarts and Avery or Mulciber or the likes had decided it was time to pick a fight. It's just a fight, she told herself. The Death Eater hurled a green curse at her and Marlene stepped to the side, watching the death curse fly by her head. She couldn't let herself think about how she'd been an inch from death. She needed to focus because she was in a fight — a fight that would have much larger consequences than a trip to the infirmary if she lost.

Marlene flicked her wand, " _Expelliarmus_!" the Death Eater blocked it easily and Marlene found herself in a dance of dodging curses whilst throwing stunning and disarming spells. She got insanely lucky when she spun out of the way of a green curse, throwing a stunner at the end of the turn and either it caught the Death Eater by surprise or he was too slow to move out of the way because the red light connected with his arm. The Death Eater crumpled to the floor and Marlene sighed in relief.

She turned to look around and bumped right into Emmeline.

"Emmeline!" Marlene shouted, helping Emmeline fight the two Death Eaters she was duelling with. "What the hell is going on?"

"You know as much as I do! We just got summoned here."

"What? No I didn't! I was having lunch with — oh my God! Charles!"

"Who?"

"My brother! I have to find my brother!"

"He's got his wand on him, doesn't he? He'll be fine!"

"My brother is muggle!" With a new determination, Marlene shot three consecutive spells within a second of each other and two out of three hit their mark. One of their opponents fell, the second one snarling at them angrily.

"Go!" Emmeline shouted. "I'll cover you! Go find your brother!"

Marlene didn't hesitate, heading towards the entrance where she had last seen Charles. Someone grabbed her hand. A man holding a little girl. "You — you're one of them but you're good right? You're helping us?" The man seemed to be desperate and blood was trickling down from his forehead. The little girl had tears tracked down her face and her pink dress was dirty with grey dust marks and smudges of blood.

Marlene nodded, "I am. Are you hurt? Is your daughter okay?"

"We're fine — it's my wife! She's hurt badly!"

"Show me."

The man didn't hesitate to grab Marlene's hand and pull her through the rows of fighting wizards and witches. It was a wonder the man had made it this far alive, Marlene noted. Spells were ricochetting all over the place and it was all Marlene could do to deflect the ones that flew in their direction. The man led Marlene towards the entrance — ironically where she was planning to go anyways — and Marlene assessed the damage considerably.

The whole entrance had been caved in and a woman lay, crushed underneath a wooden beam but she was conscious.

"Hello," Marlene greeted crouching next to the woman. She smiled softly, her healer training kicking in. "I'm Marlene. Can you tell me your name?"

"J-Jennifer."

"Hello, Jennifer. Now, I'm going to be doing things that you won't be used to but I promise I am helping you get out of here alive, okay? So can you promise that you'll stay calm?"

Jennifer nodded her head and Marlene nodded curtly once. She waved her wand over Jennifer's body performing tests and reading the diagnostics that floated up. Heart rate was a little too slow, blood pressure was high and her breaths were shallow. "Can you feel your legs, Jennifer?"

"I don't — I don't know."

Marlene draw the tip of her wand along both her legs, "Could you feel that?"

Jennifer nodded. "Yeah, yeah I could feel that. Are you a doctor?"

"I am. Okay, I'm not going to know what kind of damage you're in until we get this beam off you. The good news is your spine seems to be fine but just to be sure I'm going to put your neck in a brace," as Marlene said it, she drew her wand in a complicated fashion and the brace appeared, Jennifer watched with wide eyes.

"What are you?" Jennifer whispered. "Who are you people?"

"Who and what I am isn't important right now. We need to get this beam off of you."

"I can get people to help us lift the beam, can you watch her?" the husband asked.

"No need, I got it." Marlene got up off the floor and took a few steps back. She pointed her wand at the beam and slowly it began to lift, Jennifer groaning as the weight lifted off of her.

"What the—"

"Move her!" Marlene ordered, "It's too heavy for me to move." Her hand and wand were already shaking from the power it was taking to lift the heavy beam. The husband was quick to set down their daughter and gently drag his wife out from under the beam. Marlene let it drop to the floor the moment Jennifer was out of harms way.

She felt a tug on her coat and looked down at the little girl. "Are you a fairy?"

Marlene laughed lightly at this little girl's mind. "Something like that," Marlene told her before moving back to Jennifer. "Okay, talk to me, Jennifer. How are you feeling?"

"Stomach hurts everywhere," she groaned and Marlene nodded as she waved her wand over her stomach. Hurting everywhere sounded about right. She had massive internal bleeding. Marlene lifted Jennifer's shirt to see what magic had already told her, a purpling abdomen.

"She needs to get to a hospital!" the husband insisted.

"She won't make it to the hospital," Marlene told the husband. "All right, Jennifer. I'm going to fix you up but it's going to feel uncomfortable, okay?"

Jennifer nodded and Marlene ordered the husband to have their daughter look away before murmuring the spells to heal the internal bleeding and after fifteen minutes of intense mutterings, Jennifer's stomach was a tender pink colour.

"There you go," Marlene smiled, helping Jennifer to sit up. "You might have a bit of residue soreness but it'll clear up in a few days."

"How did you do that? I feel like — like-"

"I know," Marlene smiled at her. "But you wouldn't believe me even if I told you. You three should get into a shop and stay low. I think both the entrances are caved in."

A comforting thought because that means Charles couldn't have made his way in.

* * *

James and Lily had both crouched to the floor at the sudden loud noise, as so many people around them had also done. James dragged her back up first, his wand already out.

"It's starting," he said.

"Yes, thanks for that," Lily snorted. She looked to the way the crash came from but a veil of dusty haze made it difficult to tell what exactly had happened but she could guess well enough. "Looks like they've caved in the entrances. Everyone's trapped in."

Lily scanned the arcade and noted almost everyone was going frantic. Mothers gripped the hands of their children, holding them close and shop owners came wandering out of their shops to see what was going on. The only people who were seemingly calm were those Lily recognised to be in the Order.

She spotted Emmeline Vance thirty feet away helping an elderly woman who had fallen in the commotion and not far behind her were the Prewett brothers ushering civilians into the nearby shops.

"Lily! James!"

They both turned to see Alice, Adaline and Frank with someone who Lily thought looked familiar. "Noticed anything off?" Lily asked them.

"Apart from them caving in the entrances, no," Alice frowned.

"Who's they?" asked the someone Lily thought looked familiar.

"Lily, you remember Marlene's brother Charles."

Lily's mouth popped into an 'o'. "Why's he..? Is Marlene here?"

"Somewhere apparently," Della confirmed.

"What's going on?"

"He won't stop asking questions," Alice frowned.

"If you'd answer any of them, I'd stop asking and-"

Lily twisted around, wand out, as the sound of loud cracks echoing filled the crowded area. James, once again, pulled her and Adaline to the floor whilst shouting, "Duck!" and luckily too as spells flew across their heads, hitting people who had not had the good fortune to duck.

The green flashes had found far too many people and they lay, eyes opened, on the floor.

"What the fuck is going on?" Marlene's brother shouted.

"We don't have time to explain!" Alice shouted, standing up and shooting a stunner at the back of a robed Death Eater. Lily scrambled up with James, following Alice and Frank's examples and stunning anyone in a black robe. Lily vaguely heard Alice shout at Charles to get into a shop but was forced to miss his protest as she spun out of the way of a green light, pushing James with her.

"All right?" he shouted at her over the cries and shouts. She nodded and paused for just a moment to press a soft kiss to his lips. He clutched her waist tightly, pulling her closer as she rested her forehead on his, "I love you. Be careful," she whispered and James replied with a soft, "Back at you," before they both turned back to the fight.

Lily couldn't even count the amount of Death Eaters she saw. There were too many and all of them moving so quickly she couldn't be sure if she was double counting but by estimation she'd guess there were over thirty of them. One of them was approaching a crying boy. He could have only been around eight and he was shouting for his mum to wake up but the woman he kneeled next to was still as a statue. Lily reached the boy first and was filled with regret upon seeing the mother's vacant expression but she had to push that away so she could help the little boy.

"Hi, sweetie, I'm Lily. What's your name?"

"M-Max," he sniffed. "Why won't my mummy get up?"

"Max," Lily said gently, "Your mum is—"

"Is she dead?" he whispered and Lily's heart broke at the innocence his eyes bore and she hated that she was going to be the one that broke it.

"Yes," Lily told him. The approaching Death Eater caught her eye so she turned back to Max. "But I need you to be brave for me. See that shop behind us? I need you to get inside it quick as you can. Can you do that for me?"

"B-but my mum," he sobbed.

Lily opened her mouth to reply but instead found herself practically tackling the small boy out of line from a spell. With no more time left to talk to the small boy, Lily got up off the floor, placing herself in front of Max and faced the Death Eater. She shot a few spells at him before turning back to the boy. "Go," she shouted. "Quickly!"

It was that brief moment of looking away where she was tackled to the floor, her head cracking loudly on the floor. The wind knocked out of her lungs and seeing stars, she coughed as the world came back into focus and looked up to see Sirius hovering over her, "You're welcome."

"Holy shit, Sirius, you couldn't just shout 'duck'?" she groaned, pushing him off her and massaging the back of her head.

"Quit complaining about my heroic moment," he told her as he got to his feet. He helped her up and asked, "You okay?"

She nodded. "Thanks, Black."

"Keep your eyes on the game, yeah?"

Lily would have replied but she pushed Sirius out of the way and yelled, " _Protego_."

"Guess that makes us even," was all Sirius had time to say before he was shooting his own spells at the masked Death Eater beside Lily. They held their ground, defending themselves just as much as they were attacking their masked opponent but it seemed they were equally matched to the Death Eater.

They were tossing spells at him for so long that Lily's wrist felt like it was going to fall off and Sirius must've felt the same because he shouted, "Oi, Evans! Prongs ever talk to you about some of our codes?"

"I really don't think now's the time!" Lily yelled back. " _Expelliarmus!_ " Their opponent blocked it easily and Lily, frustrated, flew a silent stunner at him. He blocked that too though. "Which one?"

"Operation jiggly-puff," Sirius said hopefully. "Oi! No you don't mate!" He shouted before throwing a set of three stunners, all of which were narrowly dodged. Lily did in fact know some of the Marauder Mischief codes and she remembered Operation Jiggly-Puff purely because the name (a) had nothing to do with the actual play and (b) it was the most simplest thing ever.

"Yeah! I got it!" Lily glared at the robed and masked Death Eater, looking more ridiculous than the grim reaper and said, "Oi! Skull-face! Lord Voldemort's behind you!"

The Death Eater turned in surprise and Sirius winked at Lily before sending the stunner that had him crashing to the floor.

"Works every time." Sirius clapped Lily on the shoulder. "Knew you were an honorary marauder for a reason."

Lily looked around and sighed. They'd only stopped one and there were plenty of more where he came from. One was fighting James just across from her. Alice and Frank were up against three and Adaline was ushering muggles into shops. The fight was far from over.

* * *

Adaline's blood boiled as a Death Eater levitated a muggle woman in the air. The woman couldn't have been older than twenty-five and she was being tossed around in the air like she was nothing more than an old rag doll. Adaline ran towards them, leaving Alice and Frank to look after Marlene's brother — they were training aurors and they could handle themselves.

" _Petrificus totalus_!" she shouted and the Death Eater, too enrapt in his humiliation of the woman, fell stiff as a plank board. Adaline silently slowed the woman's fall to the ground and ran over. A man pushed her out of the way just as she was about to reach the woman though. "Oi!" she shouted.

"Stay away from her! You're one of them!" the man had a buzz cut and had brilliant blue eyes with a gorgeous face to match but she had to pull herself together because they were literally in the middle of a war.

"I helped her in case you didn't notice!" Adaline snapped. She saw the Death Eater she attacked stir and grimaced. She stood up and shot a stunner at him but he blocked it easily. Cursing Adaline stepped over the woman laying unconscious on the floor and quickly put up a number of shield charms.

A series of multi-coloured lights came flying at her, sending spidery shatters through her shield making it glow orange — she was in trouble if it went red. It was all she could do to keep uttering the shield charms to keep the Death Eater at bay. The shield was becoming more red than orange and the Death Eater was advancing, soon he'd be close enough ….

"Are you going to do something!" the muggle man shouted.

Adaline blocked him out because her wand arm was shaking with the power it was taking to keep the shield up and the shield was the only thing between them and the Death Eater.

"You can't hold that thing up forever," the Death Eater sneered at her. "It'll break eventually and when it does-"

Adaline slashed her wand down, sending the force of the shield forward, blasting the Death Eater back into a wall where he slumped unconscious to the floor.

"You'll be finished," Adaline finished his sentence smartly, feeling a great sense of satisfaction before turning to the muggle. "That was quite impressive, wasn't it?"

"You're — you're mad!"

"I just saved you and this lady so less insulting and more being useful. Get yourself and this lady into a shop! Stay low, don't come out until people who aren't in black robes come to get you."

"Who are you people?"

"No one you'll know of. Now go!"

Adaline didn't wait around to watch him go, instead she turned to the next Death Eater and this time she was on the attack. She hurled spell after spell until she had her backed into a corner and then she stunned her. It went on like that for a while. Fight, beat, repeat. Her arm was getting tired after round five with a Death Eater and he had _her_ backed into a corner.

"You know, a fighter like yourself, there could be a place for you on our side," the Death Eater offered and Adaline spat at his feet.

"Why don't you take the mask off, you coward?"

"I'm not the one backed into a corner," he sneered.

"And I'm not the one who talks too much," she stepped on his foot and shot a silent stunner straight into his belly he slumped to the floor and she slumped against the wall, heaving heavily. She didn't know how much longer she could do this.

* * *

A lot of them sat huddled, shoulder to shoulder, around the wireless eagerly awaiting any updates but it seemed that the Death Eaters spelled the place to stop anyone from being able to enter. Worse, Barty Crouch announced that whoever the Death Eaters were fighting against inside the arcade, it wasn't Ministry officials — something very bad for the Order. They were supposed to be non-existent.

"Good on them," a woman spoke up. "If the Ministry's doing nothing, at least someone is."

"You a filthy blood traitor then?" a scruffy man asked.

"Either way I'm screwed so I may as well root for the side of good."

"The side of scum! Of thieves!"

The woman snorted. "They're not the ones murdering innocents for fun."

"Shut it the both of yeh, I'm tryna lis'en here!"

Everyone fell silent again as they listened to news they already knew and Remus chewed his lower lip in worry. He should be in that arcade with his friends. He was sure at least some of them would be in there and if Remus had to guess out of the lot of them — Sirius and James would be definite. They'd have volunteered for the chance to kick Death Eater butt and yet Remus worried that they may not be the ones doing all the kicking. Ella was pregnant so surely she wouldn't have gone and Lily had to keep her cover for her mission so she probably hadn't gone either. Alice and Frank would be there, Remus realised with a drop of his stomach. Marlene might've been called in to heal people at the site — Nate was fifty/fifty and so was Peter and Adaline.

"You look like you're about to swallow your lip," Haley commented. "You okay?"

"Dandy."

"You don't look dandy."

Remus shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Things like this make me nervous. I hope they haven't hurt too many people."

"I wonder why they decided to attack a muggle building."

"Do they need a reason?" It was a valid question. It wasn't the first time Voldemort had ordered an attack with less than reasonable reasons.

"I suppose not. Who do you think they're fighting against?" Haley asked him quietly. "It's got to be a magical group of some sort. Muggles wouldn't stand a chance."

"I don't know," Remus said but his friends all came to mind.

"Whoever they are, lets hope they win."

Remus nodded in agreement.

* * *

James knew it was him. He may have been wearing a mask but James would know the stance of that cowardice piece of shit anywhere. James turned back to his current opponent, quickly throwing a succession of three stunners until one stuck. James didn't even wait until he fell, he stormed over to Snape — who was duelling someone else from the Order — and punched him in the face.

"That is for Lily," James said coldly to him. Snape took two steps back and eyed James with a venomous stare but James didn't falter.

"I had him!" Fenwick complained.

"Piss of, Fenwick," James snapped. " _Snivellus_ is mine."

"You always did have to puff your chest with that arrogance," Snape drawled, removing his mask to reveal his snarled lips and dark eyes.

"This isn't about that," James hissed furious that Snape was trying to make this about some schoolyard squabble instead of what it was really about. "This is about Lily."

Snape barred his teeth in an ugly snarl. "You shouldn't be allowed to say her name. You don't deserve her! You never have!"

"What's between Lily and I is none of your god damned business but just a tip, Snape. It's not about deserve because if it was she'd never have been friends with you in the first place."

Snape's hand moved so quickly the only evidence of action was the cut across James' cheek not unlike the one Snape had given him by a lake almost four years ago. James didn't bother to touch the small slice and threw back his own spell. It hit its mark and Snape doubled over in pain.

"Don't like the sound of the truth, Snape?" James said with the easy air he'd always had when goading Snape — this really was just like being back at Hogwarts.

To add insult to injury, Sirius had spotted them and just as Snape had stood up straight again, Sirius strode over punching Snape straight in the stomach. "That's for Evans," he spat.

"And I'm supposed to believe you care for her?" Snape gasped.

"Evidently more than you ever did," Sirius said coldly. "You ever so much as look at Evans again and I'll — whoops I meant _we_ will make sure you piss red for a week."

"That's pretty tame I was thinking more along the lines of not letting him breathe again."

"Now, now, we can't stoop to _their_ level even if it is for Lily and even if it is _Snivellus_."

The use of that name seemed to snap something in Snape as he started ferociously attacking them. Snape, no matter how hard he tried, was no match for James and Sirius though. James and Sirius who when together seemed to have a their own brain that only the two of them knew the language to. They easily discarded Snape's spells as easily as deflecting a ball of parchment.

James may have felt bad for the sweat Snape was producing on his forehead but he remembered the state Lily was in the last time she ran into Snape and any feeling of regret or sympathy went out the window. The truth was Snape was the embodiment of everything James hated. Blood-purist, hypocrite who didn't know how to grow up and thought the affections of a girl were owed rather than earned. Yes, in this moment and perhaps in all moments after, James could perhaps feel regret for the way he was towards Snape during their school days but not out here.

* * *

Alice had lost Frank in the chaos, she tried to find him in the spare moments between defending herself and attacking her opponent but there were just too many people. She was duelling another masked Death Eater and Alice thanked Merlin for Moody always going hard on her in training because this seemed like a piece of cake compared to fighting with Moody. She worried for the Death Eater that went up against Moody.

The move Alice had been practicing for weeks had won her a handful of the duels she was in today and she prepared to do it again. She waited for a break in between the flashes of light and jabbing wands and she was praying that it came soon as she threw herself to the ground to dodge a spell. She aimed a stinging spell at the Death Eater's feet and as she screeched in pain, Alice scrambled to her feet and she slashed her wand in a diagonal fashion from the left side of her head down to the right side of her hip. Out of her wand came a ferocious gust of wind that unbalanced the Death Eater so much it knocked off her mask and Alice's lip curled. She flicked her wrist and the witch's wand flew out of her hand.

"You've become quite the fighter, Al!" Bellatrix Lestrange commented. "You sure you don't want to join us? I promise it's much more fun being on the winning side."

"From where I'm standing you're loosing," Alice shot back.

"Am I?" Bellatrix sneered with a smirk and Alice felt a shiver run down her spine.

"ALICE!" someone shouted, was it Lily? Alice thought it sounded like Lily but she couldn't afford to look away from Bellatrix. "ALICE DUCK!"

Alice followed the instruction, ducking just in time to see the green flash soar over her head. Her heart pounded in her chest and she whirled deciding the threat behind her was greater than the threat in front of her and her eyes widened at the sight of him.

She'd never seen him before. Of course everyone in the Auror department had seen a photo but it didn't do him justice. They show you the black and white photo and tell you that his eyes are red but it didn't capture the malicious power he radiated. The red eyes were like glowing snake eyes in the dark of the woods. His skin was so white that Alice could see the spidery blue veins underneath. He was a tall man, his head turning this way and that to assess whether or not he was winning this battle and Alice stood three meters in front of him.

His eyes, those hellish eyes, turned back to her and she gripped her wand tighter, not knowing what she could possibly do against Lord Voldemort but she raised it up at him anyways. She tried to look around to see if anyone could help her but everyone was in their own fights. Lily was up against two. James and Sirius were fighting Snape — beating the crap out of him too by the looks of it. Emmeline and Adaline were up against three. Marlene was helping a muggle who probably had more of his blood on the floor than in his body. She set her eyes back on Voldemort.

"AL!" _Frank_. She almost turned to look but Voldemort raised his own wand and with careless flicks came the green light that meant death. There was no spell to defend against that — a fatal flaw in magic, Alice thought — and Alice found herself dodging. She twisted and turned, jumping and ducking out of the way of the streaks of green. She was waiting for the break but it never came, she had to keep moving and she tried to throw the odd spell but he either deflected it easily or her aim was off and it missed him completely.

"Dancing target's always fun," she heard Bellatrix cackle as Alice ducked behind a large potted tree.

Suddenly, there was a break. Alice peaked out and saw Frank fighting him. Alice waited to catch her breath before standing up and running out next to Frank. Together, they were able to keep him occupied enough to stop him from shooting killing curses at them.

"Such a waste of talent," he _tsk_ ed. "They'd be much better served on my side."

"You're the waste of talent!" Alice shouted as she slashed her wand diagonally, putting as much power into it as she could. The gust of wind roared out of her wand and Alice shouted, "NOW!" at Frank.

He shot a stunning curse at Voldemort and how strange to think that if it had only hit him, this would've all been over. The spell was deflected by Voldemort a moment before it was about to hit him and he raised his wand at the two of them.

" _Avada Ke-_ "

Lily came sliding across the floor, straight under Voldemort's outstretched arm.

* * *

She collided into him, her combat boots knocking his legs right out from under him. She didn't lose her focus as Voldemort landed on top of her. She grabbed his wand, trying to pry it out of his fingers.

"Let go you insipid girl!"

She bit down hard on his hand and he let out an almighty cry, relinquishing his wand. Lily grabbed the bone coloured stick and was about to toss it aside when Voldemort grabbed her wrist so tightly it was like irons were cutting her blood circulation. She let out her own cry and used her other hand to punch him in the face. She'd never punched anybody before but her dad had told her how much it hurt afterwards and he was right. Her hand ached as she drew it back but that didn't stop her from doing it again. She drove her knee upwards and it connected with his stomach taking the wind out of his lungs. She used that moment to shove him off her and crawl away but she wasn't quick enough.

A hand clamped around her ankle, dragging her back. Lily twisted around so she was on her back and kicked her legs, not caring what she hit as long as she hit something. She heard a satisfying choke when the heel of her boot connected with his neck and felt even more satisfaction when she realised he couldn't quite breathe. _That was for my mum_.

She shuffled backwards as quick as she could but his wand flew out of her hand. Lily whirled around and stared into the eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange. Lily growled at the dirty move. Attacking someone from behind was less than honourable but Lily didn't have time to dwell as Bellatrix tossed the wand back to her master. Lily scrambled back up onto her feet finding herself at the end of not one but two of the deadliest wands the wizarding world had seen since Grindlewald.

* * *

 _Author's note: Apologies for starting with fluff and ending on ... well that but short ending fluff is better than no fluff._

 _Hope you enjoy!_

 _-Natalie x_


	37. Chapter 36: Death Will Come

Her hair was falling out of its tie and she pushed it back furiously as she attempted to slow the bleeding in Gideon's stomach and cursing like a sailor when nothing seemed to work.

"It's okay," Gideon gasped. "It's okay." He tried to steady her hands but she shook her head furiously.

She'd seen the whole thing happen. He'd been fighting _someone_ — and wasn't it the most frustrating thing that the Death Eater masks hid their identities — when they slashed their wand down and a flash of white light and Gideon slid to the floor, blood pouring out of his stomach. It had only taken three seconds.

"It is not fucking okay and you stay with me! Eyes open!" she ordered. "I'll get this bloody bleeding to stop if it kills me!"

"Adams …"

"Let me concentrate, damn it!"

He shut up and she set to work, performing more complicated spells that she'd never done before, only studied in theory and seen other healers perform, and she sighed in relief when after her fifth spell, it worked. His skin sewed itself back together and blood was no longer pouring out of him. Something that only took three seconds to do, took three minutes to fix and the job still wasn't done.

"You've lost a lot of blood," Marlene said.

"I'll be right." The bloody idiot sat up.

"No, you won't. You should go hide in a shop because if you attempt magic, you _will_ pass out. You need a blood replenishing potion."

"Well give it then."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Yes because I just happen to carry blood replenishing potions on me at all — CHARLES!"

The scene in front of her made her sick. Her brother was standing between a toddler and a Death Eater holding a wooden bat up in defence as if that was any match for a Death Eater.

"Know him?" Gideon asked and she was so distracted she hadn't realised that Gideon had stood.

"My brother, muggle," she told him and he nodded.

"Let's go save him before he knocks himself out with that bat."

Marlene stood and said, "I'll go. You get into a shop and _no magic_!" With that she ran off.

"Marls," her brother breathed in relief as she slid in front of him.

"Pick on somebody your own size," she snarled at the Death Eater and with a jab of her wand, the mask disappeared to reveal Dominique Mulciber.

"And you think you're a match for me?" Mulciber sneered and Marlene smiled prettily.

"You're forgetting who beat you — multiple times and year after year — in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"What are you going to do, Adams? Heal me to death?"

"At least I have a skill. What's yours? Free loading off mummy and daddy?"

Mulciber's face transformed into a nasty snarl and he pulled his wand back. She rolled her eyes. He was still as predictable as ever — if you're going to attack, don't make it so god damned obvious. Idiot. She shot up her shield charm, the one Alice taught her, the one Aurors use to absorb darker curses.

"Charles! Get the kid and go!"

"Marlene! I'm not leaving you!"

"Unless you've hid your Hogwarts letter all these years, you really can't help!" she shouted back as she felt spell after spell hit her shield. The momentum forced her a step back and she gritted her teeth. "Go!" She couldn't break the shield charm until she was sure they were safe, she wouldn't risk them getting hit by something meant for her.

Charles finally obliged, grabbing the screaming kid — had he always been screaming? — And running into the closest shop. Just like that it was just her and Mulciber.

He stared at her with vile determination, his wand poised waiting for her. She knew she had to bring down the shield and fight him. Hiding behind a wall wasn't much her style anyways but she allowed her eyes to wander for just a moment. Her eyes only got as far to James and what he was running towards.

Lily was up against Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange.

"She and Potter might finally get what they deserve. I hope the Dark Lord makes it hurt," Mulciber sneered and Marlene growled.

The shield charm was pulled down and before Mulciber could react, spell after spell was coming at him. Nothing specific really crossed her mind about the spells she was throwing at him, she threw whatever came to mind whether it made sense or not. She almost paused when she threw a healing spell that if not performed in the right circumstances could cause death but the flash of white soared and she watched with a sort of satisfaction as it hit him. He grappled at his throat, fighting the tube that was lodging itself in his throat.

"Marlene!"

Marlene whirled in horror to see Charles standing behind her and even though Mulciber was suffocating he wasn't dead yet and Marlene felt the whizz of a spell before she saw blood pouring out of Charles abdomen. She took a step forward when a loud bang exploded in the room, a flurry of dust and debris making it impossible to see a thing.

* * *

She was being pushed back by her opponent and it took everything she had in her to throw spells and step backwards at the same time when she hit something—someone hard. She spared a glance back.

"You again!" Adaline shouted as she faced back to her opponent. The muggle with blue eyes and a buzz cut — the one she had specifically seen to safety in a shop — was back in the fray it seemed.

Time for the shield charm. She knew that and yet she didn't think she had the energy to cast it let alone hold it up but she did it anyways. With a groan that forced every bit of magic she possibly possessed she squeezed the shield out of her wand.

"How can I help?"

"You — can't!" Adaline gritted. Four spells shot towards her and Adaline knew the shield wouldn't be able to hold them off. "Get down!" Adaline shouted. She stared the four spells head on, all the same shade of bright green. When they were a mere metre away, she pushed her shield out and hit the floor as quickly as she could. The spells raised the hairs on her arm as they whizzed over her head and she sighed in relief before noticing her opponent was approaching.

"You need to go!" Adaline turned to the muggle. "Now! I can't — I can't protect you."

"You can—"

His sentence was cut off by a terrible scream that came out of Adaline's mouth and suddenly she didn't care about anything. She didn't care about the people that had died nor the people who were still fighting to live. She couldn't bring herself to care about whether she lived or died, in fact she rather hoped she did die sooner rather than later if it meant that the knives pressing into every inch of her skin would stop.

Someone was shouting and all she could do was feel the pain. It wasn't anything she'd ever felt before. Like she was burning and freezing all at once. Numb and aching at the same time. Salt in non-existent cuts and pins in her eyes. All she knew was that she wanted it to stop even if it meant death because death had to be better than _this_. It had to be.

Her body was convulsing on the ground, her arms clutching at her stomach as though trying to hold her organs in.

"PLEASE, STOP! STOP! KILL ME!" she begged, she didn't even know if the words left her mouth. "MAKE IT STOP!"

As though a prayer had been answered the pain turned off, like it was a switch that she had in her brain. She stayed curled up on the floor, her body shaking like aftershocks after an earthquake. Something touched her and she flinched.

"Hey, hey, it's — it's okay," a smooth voice said with just enough hesitancy that Adaline knew that nothing was okay. "You need to get up now."

* * *

No spell could save her. She was well aware of that. No one had the power to stop an Unforgiveable and knowing she didn't have the power didn't make her afraid. She was insanely aware of everything; of Marlene sitting in a pool of blood as she leaned over someone performing spells with her wand, Adaline ferociously fighting a Death Eater, Alice and Frank fighting the Lestrange brothers and of James. She could see him over Voldemort and Bellatrix's shoulders fighting side by side with Sirius.

He hadn't spotted her yet and maybe that was better because if she died, he wouldn't be able to blame himself like she knew he would. She could come back as a ghost and tell him it wasn't his fault but he'd still insist to ghost Lily that he could've done something — taken the spell for her or helped her. Merlin, she couldn't die. She didn't want a ghost future with James.

His eyes suddenly caught hers and he froze leaving Sirius to pick up his slack. His eyes widened in absolute terror and even as James began to walk towards her, Sirius shouted, "Go!" and shoved James away from their fight and towards Lily.

Lily's heart sunk and rejoiced. Rejoiced because she no longer had to face this alone but sunk because it would surely mean death for both of them.

"Now, what to do with you?" Voldemort questioned, causing Lily's gaze to snap back to him. She wanted to beg. _Do whatever you want. Kill me. Torture me. Lock me in a cell to rot. I don't care just leave James alone._ But she couldn't bring herself to ask for mercy from the man who killed her mother.

"I'd be most honoured to kill her for you, my-," Bellatrix's offer was cut short as a rock crashed onto her head. She fell to the floor out cold and James circled around coming to stand closer to Lily.

"Sorry I'm late to the party," James said coolly and Lily could have kicked him, or kissed him — maybe both, definitely both.

"I should kill you both," Voldemort told them.

"Probably," Lily shrugged. "But we like living."

"That is true," James agreed, "Nothing like the wind in your face as you fly or the taste of my mum's famous chocolate pudding. I don't suppose you've tried the latest broom?" James asked Voldemort as Lily inched closer to James. "No? Real shame that is. Flies like a dream and I'm sure even a man at your age could handle it." James placed his wand free hand on her lower back and tapped three times. For once she was glad he'd deemed it necessary to bore her with all the different Marauder Mischief codes, as they had lamely called them.

The tap three times was a simple one and she was not necessarily sure it was one that would work.

"Ah, but you've bigger fish to fry than brooms I suppose. What's your little war path all about again?"

"Blood purity, sweetie," Lily informed him. "Remember the nice brochures we were mailed?"

"Ah, yes, the wanted posters with an ugly bald head on them — no offence, Voldemort."

"You dare speak my name?"

James looked at Lily in mock confusion, "Did I say it wrong?" on the last word his finger pressed into her back lightly.

"I think you forgot the 'Lord' part," Lily corrected, playing along with the ruse. She was shocked that he hadn't just murdered them on the spot and feeling slightly light headed knowing the flash of green could come at any moment.

"Oh, yes, right. What are you the lord of again?"

"Death?" Lily asked.

"Well, now, that's just wrong — _BOMBARDA MAXIMA!_ " James yelled the same time Lily shouted, " _CONFRINGO_!"

* * *

Snape stared at his master and Lily conveying pure fright that inspired anger in Sirius. He was part of the problem so he didn't get to act all terrified and worried for Lily, ex-mates or not.

"Scared that Evans is gonna hurt your precious master," Sirius taunted. Snape turned his attention back to Sirius with a look of loathing on his face. "You truly have become pathetic. What's this even accomplish? All this destruction and pain for what?" Sirius licked his lips. "I suppose you're not important enough to the _Dark Lord_ for him to share his grand plans with you but do you even know what you're fighting for?"

"I believe in the cause and what I do or don't know would surprise you, Black."

Sirius nodded, "That's true. I was surprised when I learnt that you created a potion that would wipe out everyone who wasn't deemed worthy enough to receive the antidote. Of course, I wasn't as surprised as Lily."

"How do you know about that?" Snape raised his wand as though Sirius should be scared of it.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "How do I know? Who cares how I know. The point is that I do."

"You can't stop it."

"We will and when we do, you won't even be surprised because we're the Marauders and win is what we do but you should know that by now, Snape."

Snape didn't bother with a response, instead throwing an array of curses and as Sirius dodged each one he couldn't help but laugh. It truly was pathetic how much he tried to beat them.

" _Expelliarmus_ ," Sirius said and when Snape's wand flew out of his hand Sirius aimed a stunner that could not be deflected and Snape hit the ground the same moment a loud bang sounded.

* * *

The fray, a mere squabble really, was happening right before Alice's eyes and yet she couldn't quite bring herself to believe what was occurring right in front of her. Lily's boots had connected with Voldemort's shins causing him to topple on top of her and his once well aimed curse of death went astray blowing a hole in the ceiling. Alice shook as she watched Lily punch, scratch and slap at Voldemort as though he were no more terrifying than a hated sibling or a disloyal friend and more than that, Alice was shocked to realise that she attempted to pry his wand out of his grasp.

Alice gasped as a green spell missed Lily by an inch and left a scorch mark in the carpet. Frank nudged her and Alice nodded at what he showed her. Time to keep Death Eaters busy.

Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange were tittering on the edge of the circle where Lily and Voldemort were fighting and before they could get any more ideas worse than shooting a killing curse, Frank shot a stunner at them and the flash of red right by Rabastan Lestrange's ear was enough to get their attention.

"You never miss," Alice smirked.

"Wouldn't want to catch them by surprise," Frank said reasonably. "That's cheating."

"Moody did teach us better than that."

The two brothers faced Alice and Frank with grins, as though they were happy to finally have a purpose in this battle. Alice stared back at them as though daring them to come closer and come closer they did. The two brothers parted from each other, Rodolphus coming around the imaginary circle that seemed inappropriate to cross towards Alice and Rabastan came from the other direction to face Frank it seemed.

"They want to sandwich us," Frank noted. "Keep your left foot forward, don't drop your wand and remember — if you're attacking fast enough—"

"All they can do is defend," Alice finished. "I know," she squeezed his hand. "I'll be right behind you." With one last squeeze, Alice let go and turned to face Rodolphus Lestrange, her cousin by marriage, as he approached her with that stupid grin still on his face.

She was hyper aware of Frank's back almost touching hers and she prayed to whoever was out there that they make it out alive. She didn't want this to be the last time she saw Frank and her friends. She didn't want this bloody battlefield to be the last thing she saw. She didn't want to die not knowing if her friends lived or died with her. So she began to pray but Moody's voice rang through her head stopping her.

 _"Don't pray. To God, to Merlin, to the Powers That Be, to anyone. They are not in that fight with you. You pray to yourself because the only thing between their wand and your death, is you. You're either good enough to keep yourself alive or you're not. CONSTANT VIGILANCE." The class jumped in their seats as he shouted this. "That's the secret to being good enough."_

Alice got in position, left foot in front like she'd been taught — it was something her mother had always said from when Alice was little. She raised her wand and slashed a shield charm over her before viciously shooting three curses — the nasty ones you only learnt in Auror training, ones that didn't even have a name. Rodolphus blocked all of them easily.

Alice, back to back with Frank, slashed her wand furiously, trying every attempt she'd been taught to disarm and stun her opponent. Together they ducked and twirled around each other trying to get the upper hand over both Lestrange brothers until a loud bang sounded from where Voldemort had been fighting with Lily. The Lestrange brothers turned and Alice and Frank sent two stunners.

Alice heaved against Frank, sagging against him. She wasn't complaining but Merlin, "Why haven't the aurors gotten here yet?" Dust filled the air so thick that Alice could barely see Frank who was right in front of her.

"I don't know," Frank sighed, rubbing his face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You?" She turned and cupped his cheek with her hand. He had a nasty cut on his left eyebrow oozing blood and pus and he was just as wrecked as everyone else seemed to be. Exhausted, shaking, hurting.

"Fine — ALICE!"

Alice turned in time to see through the haze a green curse fly towards her before Frank tackled her out of the way.

* * *

That bitch! Emmeline let out an anguished scream, as she ran towards Bellatrix.

"Oh hello cousin," Bellatrix greeted her.

"You fucking sadistic, murderous sociopath! Stay away from my sister!" Emmeline demanded.

"You know what they say," Bellatrix laughed, "If they won't join you, kill them!" She threw her head back with laughter.

"Literally no one says that, Bella." Sirius Black stepped next to Emmeline.

"I've got this."

"I know, I'm bored." Emmeline didn't even want to approach _that_ statement because they were in the middle of a battle and he looked like he was strolling around an amusement park. "Besides, she's more my cousin than yours. I'm related to her from both my mother and my father's side. Incest at its finest. I guess it explains Bella though." Sirius twirled his finger by his temple and Emmeline held back a laugh. Merlin, how could he just have a casual conversation and for Agrippa's sake why hasn't Bellatrix attacked them yet?

"You're a disgrace, Sirius," Bellatrix sneered. "There's no hope for you ever redeeming yourself. Aunt Walburga is just lucky that little Reggie has decided to lead the family name in honour."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I suppose you've sunk you're outrageously sharp claws right into him, haven't you?" Sirius muttered. It was perhaps his biggest regret that he couldn't save his little brother but Sirius knew better than anyone that you couldn't help someone who didn't want to be helped. "Then again, he always was spineless." It'd probably get him killed and Sirius wouldn't be the one to say he didn't deserve it.

"You were the spineless one," Bellatrix bit. "You were too coward to test the limits of magic, you'll never know how restricting normal magic is."

"Oh, sure I'm the coward because I don't want to kill people — actually scratch that, I don't want to kill _nice_ people. You, on the other hand, I'd love to kill."

"Don't go hurting my feelings now, Sirius. We did grow up together after all."

"You say that like I had a choice in the matter."

"And what about you, Emmy? Will you let him kill me?"

Emmeline stared at Bellatrix with a look of hatred. "If it stopped you from hurting Alice, I'd do it myself in a heartbeat."

Bellatrix laughed with delight. "My noble, heroic, supposedly _good_ cousins ready to kill me. Maybe there's hope for you yet." She looked at them with a serious look, "Or perhaps, you're all talk and no game. Which is it cousins? Are you like me or are you the spineless cowards?"

In three fluid motions Sirius had Bellatrix knocked to the floor with a cut on her arm bleeding profusely. "I'd heard you were a fast dueller, Sirius, but I didn't know you were-"

Three spells hit her right in the stomach and as each spell hit, she let out an oomph as though she were being punched in the stomach. Emmeline fired a ball of flames at her but Bellatrix put it out with her wand, snarling. Bellatrix picked herself up off the floor and — Sirius dropped to the floor, screaming.

"Black?" Emmeline asked worried. She bent down, putting a hand on his shoulder. His face was scrunched up in pain, eyes shut tight as he screamed and whimpered. "What are you doing?"

"I wouldn't be so concerned, Emmeline dear. Besides this is all your sister's fault anyways," Bellatrix said gleefully. "She fell right for it."

"Black!" Emmeline shouted, distracted. "What do you mean, Bella? Alice had nothing to do with this!"

"Oh, so she didn't tell members of the Order of the Phoenix to be here to protect the muggles? I do wonder what you're all doing here then."

"You wanted to find out who's in the Order," Emmeline realised, cursing under her breath until Sirius let out a particularly anguished whimper that had Emmeline kneeling beside him. "Stop hurting him!" she demanded.

"I think we need to amp it up a bit," Bellatrix grinned. " _Crucio_!" Sirius screamed louder.

"Leave him _alone_!" Emmeline demanded standing up straight and with one fluid motion, Bellatrix's wand was flying out of her hand.

Bellatrix quipped, "You shouldn't worry about Sirius, he's used to the _cruciatus_ , aren't you?"

"Shut up," Sirius gritted as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Sirius, what's she talking about?" Emmeline muttered.

"Oh, you don't know?" Bellatrix said gleefully. "Let's just say, Sirius is use to a little bit of pain when he disobeys."

"Shut up," Sirius said again.

"Sirius was never the best at obeying so my poor Aunt would have to put him under imperio just to get him to behave but as he got older he got better at throwing it off so she had to use the cruciatus." Bellatrix shook her head in pity. "She never could understand why you couldn't just listen. You were always disobeying — always the disappoi-"

"SHUT — UP!" Sirius roared and with a furious slash of his wand, she fell to the floor unconscious.

Emmeline turned to Sirius, pity in her eyes but before she could say anything he shook his head curtly. "Don't," he said, so she didn't but she did pull him into a hug because she may not know Sirius well, but she knew him enough to know that he didn't deserve that from his own mother. Nobody did.

A huge bang from where Lily and James were fighting Voldemort echoed, the power of it throwing the both of them back a few meters and they landed on the floor with a hard thud.

* * *

She couldn't. He kept asking her to get up but she couldn't all she could do was lie down and shake. He pressed her wand into her hand and even the small act of curling her fingers around the slender stick hurt.

"Come on," he insisted. "He'll be back!"

"C-can't," Adaline managed, "Go 'way."

Suddenly, she was being lifted, an arm under her knees and an arm around her back and it felt like her bones were grating. She whimpered in pain and he apologised over and over but then he stopped walking.

Adaline peeked an eye open and sighed. She sluggishly aimed her wand at the opponent and said in barely a whisper, " _Expelliarmus_."

Her eyes stayed open long enough to see the Death Eater's wand fly out of his hand. "Your turn," Adaline mumbled to the muggle.

She was set on the floor and that was the last thing she remembered until she came to a few minutes later. She opened her eyes as though suddenly remembering where she was and she rolled onto her stomach, coughing twice as she used her hands to get up. She swayed for a moment before gaining her bearings and her eyes caught on the muggle.

The muggle who was laying his fists into Evan Rosier. Blood poured out of his nose and mouth and he tried to fight off the muggle but he was not as experienced in physical fighting and the muggle knew how to stay on top of him.

Adaline was about to intervene when a loud explosion sounded followed immediately by a bang and suddenly all the Death Eaters were gone.

The muggle fell, as Evan Rosier disappeared with a crack from beneath him. Adaline watched as he rolled over, shaking his head in confusion but knowing deep in her heart that if this man had ever gone to Hogwarts, he'd be in Gryffindor. He sat up and caught sight of Adaline, his face relaxed upon seeing her.

"I'm Adam, by the way. Adam Salvatore." He held his hand out, leaning over to reach Adaline and she shook it, her arm shaking.

"Adaline Bennett. Thanks for the assist. I have a-a friend who can fix you up." _And me._ Was the shaking ever going to stop? It seemed to be lessening but — Merlin why couldn't she remember the symptoms of the cruciatus? Everyone was always told that the cruciatus was pain but she'd never imagined it like that.

"Is she — weird?"

"Weird?"

"Like you."

"Yes though maybe calling someone who can fix your bloody hands and face weird isn't the best course of action."

Adaline looked around trying to find Marlene and a small panic crawled into her throat when she couldn't seem to find the blonde.

"How'd those other _things_ leave so quickly?"

"Don't ask what you don't want to know. Look, I need to go and check on my people. Can you start bringing people out of the shops? We have people that can heal their injuries." He looked uncertain. "They won't come back. It's safe." She didn't know how she knew it but she did. With shaky legs and with Adam's assist, she managed to stand.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

She nodded. "It wasn't anything permanent."

"What — what did he do to you?" he asked hesitantly.

With a wan smile Adaline said, "Don't ask what you don't want to know."

* * *

"Charles!" she shouted using her wand to clear some of the dust cloud she was surrounded in. She saw him lying on the floor a few meters in front of her and she rushed to him, landing on her knees hard enough to have a shock of pain run through her. "You bloody idiot! I told you to stay inside!" She ripped open his blood soaked shirt and gasped. Cuts were bleeding all over his abdomen and chest.

"Marls, I'm tired."

"Stay awake, damn it!" she shouted. God this was like de ja vu. Hadn't she just been doing this with Gideon? She brought her wand forward and started murmuring the spells. It was relatively easy to heal. Mulciber's suffocating state had definitely put him off his game and for that she was grateful. When her brother's chest was only riddled with pink scars instead of bleeding cuts she deemed him fit to walk.

"Get in a god damned shop and stay!" she said pulling him up. He leaned on her heavily as he swayed. "Charles?" she said concerned.

"I'm fine," he winced. It was tender, she knew that it was but they didn't have time to waste. The dust was settling now and she could see the flashes of battle had begun again as everyone could now see their opponents once more.

Mulciber was coughing a few meters away, the tube discarded on the floor beside him and fear rose in Marlene.

"Marlene, what is going on? Who are you fighting? Why are they attacking?"

"Charles, go," she said fervently.

"I'm your big brother you can't expect me to leave you here."

"I can and you will, please, Charles!"

She looked back at Mulciber and he was approaching. They were out of time. "Just — just stay behind me!" she ordered before taking a few steps towards Mulciber.

"I'll kill you for that you mudblood bitch."

She narrowed her eyes. "Kiss your mother with that mouth?" And using a tactic that she'd seen the Marauders use a hundred times over, she said, " _Scourgify_ ," and soap frothed out of his mouth. It wasn't an all together effective technique but it did give her a few seconds to pull herself together, not to mention it was wondrously satisfying to see a high and mighty Death Eater succumb to a fourth year spell, she imagined it was why the Marauders used the same against bullies in school.

She used the precious seconds she now had to pull a vague plan of attack that she didn't even know would work. The thought of apparating Charles and herself to safety occurred to her. Charles would be safe and she could get the filth off her, for she was covered in dust, sweat and blood — most of it wasn't even hers — and her muscles ached. She began to think that if she had to hold her wand out in front of her once more, it would fall off. But she couldn't care even a sliver for her own pain. Not when everyone else around her was in pain too.

She waited for the soap suds to almost clear out of Mulciber's mouth before slamming him with spells again and, like before, she threw at him whatever came to mind. If he was too busy defending, he couldn't attack so she just had to keep attacking until … well, she didn't know what but just until.

'Until' came with two loud bangs, one after the other and Marlene barely had time to cast a shield upwards to stop debris falling on her and Charles as they crouched together. Marlene looked over to Mulciber but he was gone.

She stood in wonder, her eyes taking in what had just happened. All the Death Eaters had disappeared.

* * *

All he could do was hold onto her shirt as they were engulfed in a cloud of dust. As soon as the dust settled, the fight would begin and terror shot through him like a chill down his back. He couldn't let anything happen to her so he tugged her closer.

"Go!" James insisted, looking into her dusty face.

"Go? Go where?"

"Anywhere just not here," James hugged her close. "I couldn't — you should leave."

"Not without you!" Lily insisted, gripping his shirt tightly. James looked around nervously. The dust was clearing and they were almost out of time. She needed to get out of here. "We do this together or not at all. Until the end."

"Lily, he's going to try to kill us!" James shook her slightly. "Please get out of here! I can't see you hurt-"

"I'm not leaving you!" she said with a fierce determination that told him nothing short of making an illegal portkey and forcing it into her hands was the only way he'd get her out of here. "I'm not ever going to leave you so don't ask me to."

He wanted to do something to get her out of here — anything that would work but there wasn't, the dust was almost settled and they were out of time, so he said the only thing worth saying because if this was the last time they got to say something to each other he didn't want to waste it. "Lily, I love you." He soaked her in, his eyes roaming over her face and somehow knew that if anything were to happen to her, his world would be over because she was everything. He didn't want to live in a world without Lily Evans — he wouldn't know how to.

She rested her hand on his cheek, brushing away the tear that had slipped down his face and with tears making clean tracks down her own cheeks, she said, "I know. I love you, too. Now, let's give the bastard hell, yeah?"

"I'm not dying without a fight," James agreed, turning back to where he knew Voldemort would be. The dust hadn't quite cleared yet, he could only see as far as a meter or two in front of him but he propped his wand out, aimed at where he knew Voldemort would be.

"We're not dying at all," Lily said with the same determination that always got her her way. Of course, sheer stubbornness would be the reason Lily Evans survived, that and her own recklessness. "Remember the spell thing I told you about?" Lily asked him. "The ball thing that Mulciber showed me?" James nodded and Lily leaned into his ear whispering a plan and telling him how to do it. Apparently, them coming out of this alive relied on James perfecting a spell he'd only attempted once half-assed. "On my signal," Lily told him just as the first shadows of Voldemort could be seen.

They both poised and on an imaginary count of three they both started a ferocious attack hurling every curse, jinx and hex they could think of trying to leave no opportunity for him to do anything but defend and block. In the hazy dust that still hadn't quite settled, the spells were a flurry of different colours — red, purple, yellow, orange, pink, blue — hitting an invisible blockade or being deflected to miss their intended mark.

James kept going. For Lily. If he stopped she would die and that was the only incentive he needed to put his all into this. So he shot spell after spell and after a lot of heaving and panting, after his arm felt ready to fall off a spell snuck through Voldemort's defences. A cut appeared on Voldemort's cheek. It was small and yet somehow so, so significant. James stared at it in awe.

"All of that for a cut?" Voldemort laughed.

James cut off the terrible laugh. "No, all that to prove that you're human just like the rest of us and one day you will die. The only difference is when you do no one's going to care enough to put you in the ground."

"Ja-"

Voldemort screamed as though possessed by a lion and his wand slashed with a sudden fury and James was lifted from the floor. He flew through the air as swiftly and quickly as a spell. He heard rather than felt the smashing of glass and soared through a shop, knocking down various stands and tables until he rolled on the floor, shards of glass poking his skin.

He groaned as he rolled onto his back and his vision was spotty at best. He ran a hand down his face and felt his glasses, surprised that they'd managed to stay on during being tossed through a window, sticking charm or no, he pulled them off and blinked hard a few times until he could assess if they were damaged. A crack split down each lens and he tapped them with his wand, the glass mending itself and he grabbed the nearest object to help himself up. Staggering on his feet, he bumped into a few things before someone steadied him.

"That was quite a fall," the person said, though James didn't know if it counted as a fall if someone literally tossed him through the air as though he were a quaffle and the window had been the goal post.

James blinked hard a few more times, and waited for his vision to come back clear. Muggles lined the back wall of the shop, all watching him with wide eyes and clearly terrified.

"I'm fine," James said, pulling himself out of the grip of the woman who had been brave enough to try and help him. "Just — we're doing our best. Sit tight. Or - or try to find a way out or something _but not through the main part_!"

James ignoring the aches in his shoulders, back and leg, walked out of the shop, using the stands to help him walk. When he reached the door, he rested on it for a moment, taking in the scene. Lily and Voldemort were circling each other. Oh Merlin. Without another thought James ran out towards Lily barely registering just how far he'd been thrown.

" _James_!" Lily shouted relieved, in between dodging flashes of green. "James now!"

James positioned himself in a bracing stance, his left foot slightly in front of his right, body angled and the next green flash that came at him, instead of trying to dodge it he stared it straight on and concentrated. With his mind he imagined stopping the spell in its tracks and he knew that was what Lily was doing next to him too because the flash of green was slowing. James' hand shook and he could feel the sweat dripping of his face and down his back but it was working so he didn't care in the slightest. Just as the flash of green was three feet from hitting him, it pooled into a green ball.

James looked at Lily. "Push it back," she instructed, "We want to catch his spells in it." Together, they did it. They pushed the ball back and even when Voldemort pulled his own wand back and cast a new curse, it joined into the ball. James was mesmerised by the thing it acted like a magnet, drawing in any spell Voldemort cast until it was a glittering ball of colours. "Now, James!" They pushed the ball further and further away from them, drawing it back to Voldemort. It was inches away — _just a little bit more!_ — And a loud explosion sounded.

At the noise, James clutched at Lily's hand, his wand jammed awkwardly between their hands and there was a second explosion that had the both of them soaring back and all he could feel and all he could think about was the grip of her hand around his.

* * *

Remus and Haley sat restlessly in the plastic chairs outside their tent, their own wireless set on the floor by their feet as they keenly listened for any new information. It seemed to be the same thing for hours.

 _"…The Ministry has made no comment as to the battle in Burlington Arcade…"_

 _"…Ex-Auror Murtagh Finley, who was active during the time of Grindelwald, states that a battle of this category will surely have casualties…"_

 _"…It is still a mystery as to who the Death Eaters are fighting against and why…"_

Slowly, their small group of two expanded into a group of five, all of whom Remus was familiar with. Jim and Chris Richmond were first to join offering Haley and Remus a bottle of firewhiskey and as the bottle was passed around they listened, hardly saying anything to each other.

 _"…The Ministry is co-ordinating with muggle authorities to cover up this extraordinary breach of the Statute of Secrecy and Mr Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has commented assuring that there's a team in place to wipe muggle memories…"_

David Mirch joined next bringing his own bottle of liquor that smelt dreadful and Remus would only drink if he wanted to end up six feet under. Mirch didn't really 'hang' with them, his tent on the other side of the underground but he was friendly enough and Remus had considered setting up camp with him before deciding on the Richmond brothers.

 _"…Charms preventing people from entering are still active however the Ministry has confirmed that the fighting seems to have stopped after two consecutive bangs. They are still unsure of which persons were fighting against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's followers…"_

Remus took a swig of the firewhiskey before passing it to Haley. He had a fairly good idea of who had been fighting the Death Eaters and prayed that none of them, friend or no, were hurt.

"I bet it's Dumbledore's lot," Mirch said. The others stared at Mirch with a questioning stare. "Merlin, have you not heard? Latest rumours are that Dumbledore's creating an army."

"An army?" Chris raised a brow. "What? To fight You-Know-Who?"

"Well he ain't creating an army to fight them Ministry fools. We know he could do that single-handedly." Mirch took a swig of his still unidentified liquor.

"I can't fathom why they haven't made Dumbledore Minister yet," Jim sighed. "The man defeated Grindelwald surely he's the best man for the job. And if he's starting an army, why wouldn't the Ministry be involved?"

"He'd be stuck behind a lot of red tape and politics if he become Minister," Haley pointed out. "Or even if Dumbledore's alleged army was involved with the Ministry."

"Not to mention the spies," Mirch added. "I say good on Dumbledore for attacking these blasted _Death Eaters_ and I'd like to see the day when someone can fool Dumbledore."

"You think the Ministry's infiltrated already?"

"You don't?" Mirch challenged. "The Ministry's corrupt even without spies. It runs on the money of pureblood families. If it didn't, Merlin knows the Ministry would have found the funds to finish Voldemort long before it ever came to this."

Remus found that he couldn't disagree with Mirch's logic.

* * *

He hit the floor on the opposite shoulder he'd landed on before and he heard it pop painfully out of place. He grimaced as he sat up, cradling his arm, he looked around for Lily. She was laying flat, on her back, her leg sprawled at an unnatural angle. Fear gripped him and he crawled on his knees to get to her.

"Lily?" he said, patting her face gently. "Lily? Come on, Evans. Don't you dare be dead," he muttered, panic settling into his bones because she was laying on the floor with blood stains on her clothes and dirt on her face and her leg sprawled in a weird angle and she wasn't awake. "Lily!" he said a little louder and her green eyes stared at him.

"James," she breathed. He leaned down to kiss her, his tears splashing on her face.

"You scared the heck out of me," he muttered. "Are you okay? Your leg…"

He helped her sit up and she winced at the sight of her leg. She looked away quickly. "You know the spell," she prodded.

"You sure you don't want to wait for Marlene or something?"

"James, just do it."

James took a deep breath in and on the third count, performed the spell that snapped her leg back to straight.

"Ow," Lily commented before frowning, "Your arm."

"You know the spell," James imitated and she grimaced.

"I suppose I do," she gulped. "All right, here goes."

She did her own count to three and with a tap of her wand, his shoulder painfully popped back into place before the pain started to ebb away.

They sat for a moment, facing each other, James rotating his shoulder lightly and Lily just staring, both of them trying to process what had just happened.

Lily pulled her focus back to James and he smiled weakly. She shuffled closer to him and pressed her head to his. "I thought you were — Merlin, what just happened?" she whispered. It didn't seem possible that they'd survived. It didn't seem possible that they could sit up and talk.

"It's okay now," he assured, "It's over." And it was. Whatever those explosions had been, the Death Eaters had disappeared with them, bloody cowards.

"Your leg," Lily frowned pulling away. "Oh my, God! James!" He looked down at where he'd been scared to look since he'd been thrown through the window and cringed. A sizeable piece of glass was stuck into his leg, blood saturating his jeans. Lily moved to stand but James held her in place.

"Your leg," he reminded her. "You won't be able to walk for an hour or so."

"James we have to get you to a healer before you bleed to death!"

"I'm fine, I promise. Marlene will get to us eventually, I just," he breathed in deeply, placing his forehead against hers, "I need you for a minute."

"James, you were thrown through the air! Twice! And one of them was through a window! I think we should get Marlene or someone to look at you." Lily craned her neck to search the crowd. It was chaos.

Members of the Order were coaxing muggles out of the shops and Marlene and another woman that Lily vaguely remembered to be a healer seemed to have set up a triage of sorts to heal people and terrified muggles brought forward friends and children and parents begging for help.

James's fingers caressed her chin before forcing her face back to his and she closed her eyes tightly. "Just you. Just for a minute."

She relaxed in his grip, resting her forehead on his and let him hold her. He tucked a loose strand of red hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek with his thumb. He didn't care what else was happening right at the moment because she was here and she was safe and they were alive.

They were both bruised and bloodied and battered and it felt like the whole world was falling apart around them but they were alive and they had each other and that's all that really mattered, didn't it? The words, so out of place and so unexpected, were out of his mouth before he could stop them: "Marry me."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hope you enjoy :D_

 _Natalie xx_


	38. Chapter 37: So Will Happiness

Heather Shacklebolt.

Aldwin Fawcett.

Nick Boot.

Those were the names written on the little gold plaque in the grave yard at Hogsmeade. Lily couldn't say she knew any of them well — Heather the best because you don't go through seven years of schooling with someone without finding out a little bit about them. Aldwin Fawcett and Nick Boot, well she'd never even met them. All she knew about them was that they were in the Order and they died fighting for what was right. Fawcett's twin sisters, Abigail and Valerie, were also in the Order and they were saddled with grief — it had been their idea for the plaque once Emmeline and Dorcas had started the idea of a memorial. Separate funerals had been held, each of the three being buried in their hometowns, but the sisters had thought it would be nice to commemorate them together since they had died together, fighting the same cause.

Cecilia Paris, Heather's best friend for the last eight years, stood with Lisa Pinnock with tears streaming down their faces. Lisa who didn't join the Order because she'd been afraid of exactly this. Lily didn't know everything there was to know about Heather. She knew Heather hooked up with a Seventh Year when they were in Fourth and for two years in a row Heather broke up with her boyfriends just after Valentine's Day. She knew Heather liked to gossip and she was an average student who went all out for class presentations. She knew Heather was a lightweight drinker and loved Quidditch. That was the list of things Lily knew about Heather Shacklebolt. Only six.

She knew even less about Fawcett and Boot but they were people who died at the hands of evil terrorism. People who hadn't deserved to die and that was enough for a tear to escape.

"You okay?" James murmured in her ear, sliding his hand into hers.

She brushed aside the tear, "I'm being stupid. I didn't even know them."

James brushed aside her hair with his free hand and pressed a kiss to her temple, his hand resting under her cheek. "Let's go home," he whispered and she nodded because she didn't think she could take anymore of this sadness that didn't belong to her.

* * *

"Tea, Alice? Frank?" Ella asked as Sirius settled at the table. Alice and Frank were sitting opposite him at the little four seater that sat in their kitchen.

"That would be lovely, thanks."

"Yeah, I could go for one," Alice agreed.

"Could I grab a tea too, babe?" It had been a long day and a longer week for everyone, Sirius was sure but he was also sure that his week had been longer.

Ella pointedly slammed three mugs onto the table, proving Sirius' point and he sighed, muttering, "I guess not."

This was night six of sleeping on the couch and the silent treatment. The silent treatment followed after a big blow out the night of the Burlington Arcade Attack, a blow out Sirius didn't have energy for at the time. Most girlfriends would have just been glad he was alive. Not Ella. She kissed him and then slapped him so hard he thought he heard his jaw crack. Was it really so terrible that he didn't want his pregnant girlfriend at a fatal battle? He didn't understand why he was the one receiving the silent treatment when she was the one being unreasonable.

Ella sat stiffly next to Sirius and he rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to sit and play nice when she couldn't even make him a cup of freaking tea. He stood up.

"I think I'm going to go."

Ella said nothing or did nothing. Alice and Frank said polite goodbyes and Sirius grabbed his bike from the hallway and was out the door within thirty seconds. Ella would have something to say about it later undoubtedly. She would say that he'd been rude and make some sly comment about him leaving.

As he wheeled his bike onto the street, he jumped on and didn't think twice about where to head. Using the time in the air to think away all his frustrations, when Sirius landed the bike in front of Seaside Estate he was in a better mood. He strolled right in and noted the empty house. Euphemia and Fleamont seemed to be nowhere and neither did James and Lily. Sirius headed upstairs and — _oh no._

"… weren't thinking! This is betrayal, absolute betrayal! How could you!" Lily's voice floated through the corridor.

"Okay, I think you are being slightly melodramatic!"

"You're the one who is in love with her!"

Sirius frowned, surely James didn't … he wouldn't. He's not that smart or dumb … right? And he would've told Sirius, wouldn't he? He paused in the corridor. He couldn't interrupt that so instead he headed back downstairs and sat in the kitchen where Sprinkle served him some ice cream with cake.

"Is Mister Sirius feelings well?" Sprinkle asked. "Mistress Mia is taking Master Monty to Diagon Alley. She is saying that Master Monty cannot be hiding his scars forever."

"Good for Monty," Sirius said and just as he was about to ask Sprinkle for love advice, he heard Lily and James.

"For god's sake James, owl her back and say we've changed our minds."

"I — but—"

"Her or me?" Lily asked and then.

"Sirius?" James exclaimed.

"What does — oh, Sirius, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Moping. Why are you two fighting?"

"None of you business," Lily quipped, summoning a spoon and sticking it into Sirius' ice cream, taking a bite.

"Oi!"

"Well, if you stopped moping around here and went home, I wouldn't steal your ice cream."

"It's a bit icy at home at the moment, I might catch frostbite from Ella's wrath."

"You could just apologise," James suggested.

"I'm not apologising for protecting her _and_ , I feel everyone forgets this part, The Baby."

James sighed, "Mate, we get where you were coming from but…"

"But you stole her wand and left her abandoned in a baby store."

"And she survived."

"You made her feel left out."

Sirius snorted. "Left out? It was a battle not a night out at the pub. She didn't miss out on the latest hot topic."

"Yes but she's the pregnant one. I'm pretty sure if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't have been happy about being left behind either."

"She didn't agree to stay behind, Sirius, you forced her hand," Lily said softly. "That's why you need to apologise."

"If the collateral damage of me keeping her and the baby safe was hurting her feelings then that's fine by me because, you know what? At the end of the day, she isn't dead and neither is my baby."

James and Lily glanced at each other and Sirius snapped his fingers to get their attention. "Oi, don't do that. Don't have your own private conversation. I'm standing right here and it's rude."

"Like interrupting a perfectly nice day with moping isn't," Lily muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm going through a _crisis_."

"A crisis you're only going through because you refuse to apologise," James pointed out.

"I kept her out of danger! How am I the bad guy?"

"You're not a bad guy. Obviously, Ella was wrong to try to come to Burlington but she admitted that and yet you still wouldn't apologise for what you did."

"Okay, here's an apology, ahem, 'I'm sorry that I didn't have three hours to convince you to see it my way so instead I took your wand and apparated out and when the battle was over you agreed with me that you shouldn't have gone to the battle and yet you still expect an apology. Sorry.' There, an apology."

"Great, now say it to her," James suggested.

"Add a bit more feeling," Lily added.

Sirius' mouth dropped open. "You seriously think that's a good apology?"

"A good apology? No, it was snarky as hell. How you feel? Yes," Lily said. "Just soften it up a bit and explain. Apologies don't have to mean you're in the wrong. It means you did something you shouldn't have. Now, stop eating ice cream and buck the fuck up."

* * *

It had been an awkward thing to ask of someone you mostly knew on only a professional level but she was in charge of recruiting, so she was recruiting. She decided to start with Maria rather than Steven because she'd always been more suspicious, more ready to fight. She had a fire that Marlene recognised in a lot of people at the Order so she asked if Maria would come to a memorial.

The memorial had been organised by the Order — Emmeline and Dorcas had suggested it — and almost everyone was in attendance at a random pub in muggle London. It was an awful event. The Fawcett sisters were tearfully sharing stories about their little brother to whoever was sitting next to them. Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had also fought at Burlington and lost his little sister Heather, was getting piss drunk with the Prewett twins, who looked sick at the thought that it could have been their own little sister — hell, Marlene thought, it could have and would have been Gideon who died if she hadn't been there.

"How do you know those people that died? And why are so many different people here?" Maria asked looking around the muggle pub at all the different people who'd attended the memorial of three seemingly unconnected people.

Marlene breathed in deep before starting. "I know the people that died because I was with them when they died. A lot of people in this room were. We work with an … organisation that fights against You-Know-Who. We were sent to Burlington to help the muggles because we heard about an attack. It was a nasty fight and we were lucky only three of us died, the muggles were worse off but we saved a lot of them."

"You were at the … that's why you never came back for lunch that day! But sent? By who?"

"Professor Dumbledore." Marlene shifted closer to Maria. "This is Dumbledore's organisation and it's called the Order of The Phoenix. We want you to join."

"You want me to — oh." Maria sat in stunned silence for a minute before smiling. "Will you tell me about talking patronuses now that I'm the newest member of your super secret rebellion?"

Marlene almost laughed. "You'll learn all about it, I promise but Maria, think this through, okay? It's — this will affect your life. You could get injured or worse killed and you put everyone you love at risk."

Maria put a comforting hand on Marlene's. "I'm already a muggle-born, how much more at risk could I be? I want to fight. I want my kids to not have to deal with the prejudices that we did growing up. I want it to be okay to take just as much pride in my muggle heritage as people take in their magical ones. I want to wear muggle clothes without being stared at and to talk about muggle books and songs and just things without being looked down on. I want to solve a problem in a non-magic way and not be accused of 'my muggle showing'. I want to fight, Marlene."

Maria's words almost had Marlene in tears because her words hit home so accurately that it hurt. She blinked her tears away and nodded, sliding over a piece of paper. "All you need to know for the next meeting is on that. Read it quickly."

Maria unfolded the paper and read the words as soon as she looked up the paper burst into flames and Maria flinched. "What the hell?" she exclaimed.

"We can never be too careful. Make sure you remember the details."

Maria opened her mouth but nothing came out, her mouth formed an 'o'.

"You won't be able to speak about specific information about the Order. Dumbledore's the secret keeper."

Maria stared at her in awe. "I've never seen the Fidelius Charm in use."

"You better get used to it. Now, I have something I need you to do," Marlene said pulling something out of her pocket.

"A coke bottle?" Maria raised her brow. "But that's not coke."

"It's a potion, a vaccine to a deadly potion that You-Know-Who may try to use against people. We need to spread this to as many people as possible."

"Jesus, Marlene, this isn't even a litre!"

"You only need a drop for each person. Slip it to your family. Slip it to your friends and patients! I've already started at the hospital but it's so large and I'm only on the fifth floor lately."

"Why don't we just drop it in the water system then?"

"Because it may affect surgeries and medicines. We have to be careful when giving this to patients, some medicines will react badly to the ingredients. The ingredients are on the back, we modified the label."

Maria turned the bottle over and said, "neat."

"Are you okay to do this? It's an important job and the hospital, well it's a good place to start. Patients, their families and friends come to visit."

"Yeah, it's a good plan … but can I just ask, why a coke bottle?"

Marlene laughed. "Our potioneer was improvising. We wanted to give a bit of it to everyone in the Order so they can slip it to others but a potions vial or flask is hardly enough for each Order member to cover as many people as they know. We've got people slipping this into the Ministry, into Hogwarts, into Diagon Alley, into Hogsmeade. And into St Mungo's."

Maria nodded, slipping the bottle into her bag. "You can count on me."

* * *

"Hey, Lupin!" A click in front of his face brought his attention back in focus.

"Sorry, what?"

"Are you okay?" Haley asked with a concerned frown. "You've been off ever since that weird attack thing last week."

"I've just got a bit on my mind. Did you need something?"

She shifted closer to him. "You know you can trust me, right?"

He let his eyes flicker to hers and nodded, licking his lips. "I do trust you."

She nodded once but he held up a finger before she could say anything else. "I do trust you but I can't tell you what's been bothering me and I need you to trust that it's for a good reason."

It was a bizarre feeling how he could feel like he could tell Haley everything and anything and yet there was the one thing he wasn't allowed to tell anybody, not even her. It seemed stupid seeing as she knew his darkest secret. He never thought he'd know something worth keeping secret more than his lycanthropy.

She reached her hand out, moving a stray of his blonde hair out of his eyes and cupping his face causing all sorts of feelings to erupt in his stomach but just as quickly as she had touched him, her hand dropped away from his face. "I trust that you'll tell me when you're ready. Until then, some of the guys are doing a bit of a cook out because the Richmond brothers stole some lady's groceries. You in?"

Remus smiled. "Dessert is on me."

Haley smiled a wicked grin and said, "Honeyduke's Finest?"

"You know it. Just us two though yeah?"

"Absolutely," she winked and walked off to let the others know that the both of them would be joining and he sighed, running a hand down his face.

The next meet-up was with Sirius but that still wasn't for another day. Another painful day of not knowing what happened that day in Burlington Arcade. He didn't know if any of his friends had died or gotten hurt or anything and it made him regret ever coming on this mission. Except … except Haley and that was just the unfairness of it all.

Somehow she'd crawled under his skin and he didn't know how to make her stop, didn't know if she wanted her to stop. All he knew was that he didn't deserve her.

* * *

Lily and James lay in their clothes on his bed, Lily's head resting on his chest right where she could hear his heart beat. They'd both gotten off work early for the memorial and were home alone — a rare thing for them — because Euphemia had decided that Fleamont should get out of the house. Lily stared at her bare ring finger wishing she could tell people.

"So I know we hadn't decided yet," James said slowly, tracing circles on her back, "but I really think it's right for us."

"What's right for us?"

"The terrace in Kensington. Bertha." Only her idiot boyfriend would insist on giving houses names because how else were they supposed to differentiate between the houses the agent showed them?

Lily stiffened and sat up straight. "What did you do?"

"I may, or may not have told the agent that we want to put a holding deposit. On Bertha."

"James!" Lily shouted. "We hadn't decided and I know you like Bertha but it's just the two of us. Do we really need all that space?"

"She's not that big!"

"I would have to walk through ten rooms to find you every day when I come home from work and I know you're used to _space_ but I want something, I don't know, cosier."

"Cosier," James repeated doubtfully.

"Yes, _cosier_. I can't believe you owled her!" Lily jumped off the bed, wrapping her robe around her. Her boyfriend clearly doesn't think with his head and it was going to give her grey hairs one day.

"I just thought-"

"Well, clearly you weren't thinking! This is betrayal, absolute betrayal! How could you!"

"Okay, I think you are being slightly melodramatic!"

"You're the one who is in love with her!"

"Leave Bertha out of this! She's beautiful!"

"So you'd choose her over me?" Lily narrowed her eyes at him. 'She' was the apartment and her boyfriend was an idiot.

"I mean, come on, Lily, the _views_ alone! She's a no brainer!"

Lily threw her hands up in the air and turned, wrenching the door open. "So the first pretty house you see and you're ready to spend every last galleon on her! We don't need a huge place with a view."

James followed her out of the room. "Look, you're not wrong but it's a perk! A very nice perk."

"It's unnecessary and I could never even afford that place."

He turned her around at the bottom of the stairs forcing her to face him. "That's a non-issue and you know it is."

"Why? Because you have money?" Lily sighed, shaking her head and continuing on towards the kitchen. "James, I don't want to just live off your parents' money. If we're going to do that we may as well stay here. She's not right for us."

"But-"

"No buts!" Lily said firmly. "For god's sake James, owl her back and say we've changed our minds."

"I — but—"

"Her or me?"

"Sirius?" James exclaimed.

"What does — oh, Sirius, what the hell are you doing here?"

Sirius was sitting at the stool, looking mopey and seemingly eating his heart out in ice cream — ice cream Lily rightfully filched whilst he poured out his woes. As soon as he left — twenty minutes later and filled with good advice — Lily rounded on James, "you're still owling her."

"Li-ly!"

"James. I don't like that house for us. It's not the right time for a house like that. You're acting like we're going to have three kids in the next year."

"Don't you want kids?"

"Of course, one day but that's not any time soon, James. We're in the middle of a war."

"Okay but even if it is in five or ten years, it's going to happen so shouldn't we just get a house that we can always stay in? You know, something we can grow in instead of something we grow out of?"

Lily sighed and bit her lip. "James," she groaned because when he put it like that, it made her heart all mushy and she wanted to agree.

"See? Even you know I'm right." He wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her head on his chest.

"Would we really raise our kids in the city though?"

"Where else would we go?"

"I don't know, a big bit of land in the country somewhere, a big house but not a mansion. As much as I adore this place, I want something cosier. Somewhere where we can run around with the kids in the yard and have a garden and animals and just space to be as wild as we want."

It was James' turn to groan and Lily laughed. Both their visions of their future, one in the city and another in the country, seemed to suit them perfectly but there was one that was more right.

"So what do we do? It's not like we can move out of the city."

Lily raised a brow. "We don't live in the city now."

"Yeah but this is different and I would like to live closer to our friends for the foreseeable future."

"I know," Lily said quietly. She wanted to live in the city too. Closer to their friends, to work, to the Order. "So maybe, maybe we say no to Bertha now and we buy an apartment — three bedrooms max — and one day when we're ready, we look for that dream house in the country that we can grow in instead of grow out of."

"I'll owl our agent," James conceded softly.

Lily reached up and kissed his lips. "Thank you. I can't believe I decided I want to marry you."

She still remembered the moment he asked with perfect clarity despite the rest of that day being a blur of moments where some were more defined than others but that moment she remembered perfectly.

 _Lily didn't think she heard right. "James, you're not — it's the fight," she decided. "You can't propose just because we almost died!"_

 _She leaned back, away from him and he just stared at her with the softest smile. "It's not about that — I mean it is because this isn't very romantic and life is too short — but it's not just because!" he insisted._

 _"James." Her voice held a warning in it but he returned it with a loving, "Lily."_

 _"You're not proposing."_

 _"I am, actually. I'd bend on one knee but-"_

 _Lily paled, "Don't you dare! You'll cause a scene!"_

 _"Ouch. I thought you'd be more worried about my leg."_

 _Lily nudged him. "I think you got tossed through that window a little too hard."_

 _"I was tossed through a window, Lils, I don't think there's such thing as too hard." He grunted as he jostled his arm and Lily sat up straighter thinking that maybe he was going to do something idiotic like try to stand or worse, kneel. Instead he held his palm out and on it sat a white gold ring that looked so familiar that it made Lily pause for a moment._

 _She knew everything about this ring. She knew that it was bought in London in 1934 using up two years worth of her grandad's savings. She knew it featured a round diamond set into an intricate band with three little stones on each side and intricate designs above and beneath the main diamond with five little diamonds set into it — Lily remembered studying her nana's hand and turning it and twisting it to count all the diamonds and she would pronounce with proudness, "Seventeen!" every time._

 _"It isn't just because of today," James repeated, softly and more seriously. "I love you, Lily. Marry me."_

 _"Is that — Merlin, is that my grandmother's ring?"_

 _James nodded. "Your dad gave it to me."_

 _Lily looked up at him with surprise. "My dad? But we had barely been dating!" Surely, it had been her mum. James had only met her dad once, right before he died and there's no way James would've asked for a ring or even brought up the topic of marriage. They had only been dating for a month at the time!_

 _"I know but he said, when you know, you know. I know you think that I'm just asking because we almost died or whatever but I'm not, Lily. I've been, I've been trying to figure out how to do this for months. It was really getting quite pathetic but I wanted to wait until after Alice and Frank's wedding and then your mum … and then I didn't know how because I don't even know how to begin to say how much I am in love with you, Lily. You are the love of my life, Lils. There's no one else I'd rather spend my whole life with and I don't care where or how as long as it's as soon as possible." Her heart swelled, pushing a traitorous tear out of her eye and James kissed it away as quickly as it had come. "Lily, please don't make me ask you again."_

 _"Just one more time," she said softly because she loved him so much that it hurt and she wanted to do this right._

 _"Marry me, Evans?"_

 _"Yes." She kissed him hard, injuries ignored, as she pulled him closer, crushing him in a hug. "A thousand times yes," she said between kisses. "God, you're an idiot," she laughed through her happy tears. "Proposing in a battle."_

 _He leaned back, a goofy grin on his face. "Technically, it's finished." He held up the ring, "You said yes."_

 _"Of course I did, you idiot," she laughed, holding her hand out. He slid the ring onto her ring finger easily and she didn't even pause to look at it before she was kissing him again._

"I can't wait to start telling people," James murmured, his fingers playing with where her ring should be.

"Soon," Lily promised, "We'll throw a party."

"Sounds like a pla-"

"James! Lily!" Euphemia shouted from the front of the house and they both looked at each other, James rolling his eyes.

"This wouldn't happen if we moved out already," he muttered to Lily before shouting, "In the kitchen, mum!"

"We should … tell your parents tonight, at dinner," Lily said.

"Really?" James asked, his face lighting up and she nodded just as they walked into the kitchen.

"I absolutely regret dragging your father out of bed this morning!" Euphemia declared, dumping several shopping bags on the counter.

"Why's that?" James inquired.

"We barely spent an hour in Diagon Alley before he dragged me to the _Ministry_ of all places! He hates that place!" She turned on her husband, "You hate that place! And he dragged me there whilst he stirred and talked and watched some old colleague of his make some boring potion, meanwhile _I_ got hijacked by Lolita Malfoy who wouldn't shut _up_ about Crouch's latest stance on the whole You-Know-Who business! Gah, I'd have rather stayed home and played chess with Sprinkle."

"That, uh, sounds … lame," James said lamely.

"It was very lame! You hear that, Monty, our son thinks it was lame!"

"You visited Mr Bodine?" Lily asked Fleamont who tapped his nose.

"I did, he had something rather interesting to show me."

"I'll bet," Lily murmured wondering if Fleamont got to study the potion more closely than she had and wondering what he thought about it all. With all that had been going on she'd forgotten about cranky, old Marcus Belby and his new, possibly world changing, potion but Fleamont clearly hadn't despite his newly scarred face and impaired eyesight.

Euphemia went on with more dramatics of the day, continuing in a spiral rant of Lolita Malfoy's skewed views in politics and how "no wonder she doesn't want Crouch's new laws to pass, her whole family are Death Eaters! It's a wonder they let a Malfoy step foot into the Ministry!"

They all inserted their input at the relevant places but mostly Euphemia talked making them all laugh and keeping them thoroughly entertained as they organised a quick dinner and sitting around the kitchen bench James looked at Lily who nodded and with a nervous smile, James announced the news.

"Well, it is about time!" Euphemia exclaimed, jumping up. "Oh, I could cry!"

"This is fantastic," Fleamont agreed, smiling proudly at them both. "We truly adore you, Lily, and we couldn't be happier that you're now an official part of the family."

"What my husband is trying to say is thank you for picking our idiot son to spend the rest of your life with."

James snorted. "Geez, mum, thanks. Don't sell me short or anything." Lily patted his hand, which Euphemia zeroed in on.

"Where's the ring then? And how did you propose?"

Lily explained that she hadn't started wearing it yet as they were waiting to announce the news until everything with the Burlington Arcade Attack settled down.

"That's nonsense!" she insisted. "This is just what everyone needs to get their spirits up again. We'll host a party, here at the house. Next weekend. A big, blow out engagement. We'll have to go grocery shopping and I'll need you two to help clean the ballroom and decorate. I'll get Abby Abbott to make a flawless cake and we'll have to go shopping for outfits and-"

Lily and James looked at each other with goofy grins because they both knew it was impossible to stop Euphemia from throwing this party but more than that, they wanted the party. A party to celebrate love, their love, seemed perfect.

Fleamont joined Lily in the basement later that night as she was checking on the antidote potion. She'd made so much of it by now that she knew the recipe by heart.

"The party will be a good opportunity to spread that out," Fleamont said and Lily hummed in agreement.

"We've already spread it out as much as we can, I just hope it'll be enough." Lily looked up at Fleamont. "How was seeing Mr Bodine?"

"Belby," Fleamont shook his head, "He really got himself a remarkable discovery. The potion, it's flawless. Passed tests with flying colours. It'll change lives. Save some, too, I bet." He pulled something out of his pocket. "This, I'm not supposed to have this." He laid it flat on the bench in front of Lily and she gaped.

"That's — that's a recipe! The recipe!"

"It's yours. I trust that you're more than capable to make it, Merlin knows in my old age, my hands have become to shaky for potion making. Some of the ingredients we grow in the green house — Mia likes to sell to local apothecaries and donate to the hospital — and the rest I'll make sure we have in the cupboard." He nodded towards the panty that was stocked floor to ceiling with different jars, vials and flasks of ingredients.

Lily rested a hand on the recipe and looked at Fleamont, with the sincerest smile she thanked him already thinking about how to tell Remus.

* * *

Remus sagged in his chair, thoughts weighing him down, or rather the implication of pending information soon to be found out. For all his want to be told and to know what had happened on March 23, 1979, nothing had really changed for him. His friends were all still well, unharmed and alive but this afternoon, a full week after the fact, all that could change.

A knee nudged his and he looked up to see green eyes and a smiling face. "You're seeing your family today, be happy!" Haley insisted.

Remus leaned in close to her, the promise that he could trust her still on his mind, and he said, "I'm seeing a friend today."

"One of the elusive Marauders, no doubt," she grinned and then cocked her head. "Why all this brooding then?"

"He might bring bad news. Some friends may have been hurt or …"

She looked at him softly and said, "If he _might_ bring bad news, it's as equally likely that he may not."

"I know, I'm just … scared."

She leaned in and kissed his lips for three full seconds. "There," she said.

"There," he repeated in a daze wondering what the hell had just happened.

"There," she confirmed. "Now, even if your friend does bring bad news, you know you'll always have me to listen."

"I needed a kiss from you to show me that you'll listen to all my problems?" Remus asked with a raise brow.

"No, but I fancy you something awful and I just wanted to clear that up before you possible received any news that could set you into brooding mode 100."

"Oh, well, in that case," and Remus did something he hadn't thought about doing since before the end of Fifth Year. He kissed her, good and proper. His hands found themselves in her hair and his lips explored hers as though they carried the entire universe. When he was done, he said, "I fancy you something awful, too."

Haley smiled, and caressed his cheek, "I hope that someday you'll tell me why you're really down here."

Remus hoped that day would come sooner rather than later and quickly fell into his own thoughts about whether he should tell Sirius about Haley. It seemed … silly to and maybe Sirius wasn't the right person to tell. He'd tease and mock him instead of actually giving helpful advice.

Remus walked through the streets of muggle London, glad to be out in fresh air again and when a familiar black dog slid into step with him, Remus smiled and said, "Hello, old friend." The dog barked softly and licked Remus' hand.

The odd pair found themselves in a secluded ally where the dog turned into Sirius Black who embraced Remus in a hearty hug.

"It's good to see you, mate," Sirius said.

Remus clapped his back. "You too, you have no idea."

The stepped out of the hug and made themselves comfortable on some crates. Sirius pulled out some food, courtesy of Lily Evans, and said, "I guess you're dying to hear about Burlington."

"So it was the Order then?"

"Oh yeah. Me, James, Lily, Marlene, the Longbottoms, Adaline, Emmeline, Benjy Fenwick — to name a few — were all there."

"Peter?"

"Didn't get the summons early enough, neither did a lot of the Order. Moody put an anti-apparition charm over the place to stop the Ministry from interfering."

"Is everyone okay?"

Sirius shook his head. "Three died. Nick Boot, Aldwin Fawcett and Heather Shacklebolt."

"Shacklebolt, from our…?" Sirius nodded grimly. "The Order held a memorial for them at Hogsmeade the other day but no one else knows the real reason they died. But none of us were seriously injured. Lily and James were banged up but nothing Marlene and a good night's rest couldn't fix."

"Why'd they attack?"

Sirius paused and then, "It was a set-up, to find out who was in the Order."

"Fuck, how?"

"It's not important. How're things down your end?"

Remus shrugged. "Honestly, nothing's really happening. Some are for Voldemort, some are against but as far as I can tell, none of Voldemort's supporters have infiltrated or spoken to the werewolves."

"Fuck, Moony."

"Hoping to get me back so soon? It hasn't even been a month yet."

Sirius shook his head, "You never should have agreed to this. Dumbledore was a right prick for asking you to."

"I owe Dumbledore, you know that and if this helps somehow, it'll be worth it a hundred times over. Besides, it's not so bad in there."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "They may share your curse, Remus, but you don't belong with them. You belong with us."

"I hope so. Have I missed much, besides a battle?"

"I, er, that is Lily's come across something. A potion for werewolves that'll help you keep your mind when you transform. It's not available for sale yet but Lily, well she's managed to snag a copy of the recipe."

Remus laughed. "Of course, we come across something like this when I can't use it."

"She says that she's going to practice making it so that she'll have it perfected for when you come back. She really thinks this can help you."

Remus wasn't so sure but he hoped that she was right. Sirius led Remus' thoughts away from his monthly transformations and onto the dramas of Sirius' life. Remus listened passively as Sirius fought with his inner instinct to apologise to Ella for abandoning her in a baby shop.

"Mmhmm, sounds good," Remus said absently.

"Sounds good that James is cheating on Lily and she's letting him get away with it. The werewolves have stolen your morals."

"Wait, what?"

"Or your hearing," Sirius muttered. "As I was saying, I went to Seaside to speak to James and Lily about me getting the cold shoulder in my own home. Honestly, it's like I'm the U.S.A and she's Russia except the U.S.A was trying to stop Russia from blowing itself up and Russia got mad because it didn't succeed in blowing itself — and it's baby country — up."

"Sirius. James and Lily?"

"Oh right, that." Sirius paused. "What did I get up to?"

"You were at Seaside to talk to them," Remus prompted.

"Yeah and I went upstairs and heard them arguing, Remus. Lily was screaming about betrayal and said James was in love with 'her' whoever 'her' is and James called her _dramatic_. Cheating bastard."

Remus looked at his mate sceptically. "Is there any chance that _you're_ being dramatic about whatever you heard?" It's not that Remus doubted what Sirius heard, it's just that his friend had a certain proclivity for jumping to conclusions and dramatic ones at that.

"Moony, I wouldn't be dramatic about this!"

Remus raised a brow and Sirius gasped.

"Moony!"

"Well, you're a dramatic person, it's not your fault."

"I'm wounded."

"Oh, please. I'm right and you know it. You attempted to charm one of your hairs 'blacker' because it was too light compared to the others."

"It was throwing off my look!"

"We were in Second Year and you transfigured your whole head white!"

"That was due to a lack of skill, not dramatic-ness besides, I know what I heard."

"Well, then, ask one of them about it."

"It's not my business and I don't want to humiliate poor Lily by putting her on the spot."

"Then ask James."

Sirius scoffed. "That's a hideous idea. I'm going to do a bit of sleuthing."

"Snooping," Remus corrected.

"Tamayto, tamahto."

Remus shook his head. This wasn't going to end well. "Can you just ask James about it before you do anything ridiculous?"

"Oh, would you look at the time," Sirius mocked. "Gotta go. Long to-do list. Apologising to Russia, charming my hair and sleuthing. Got to go."

"Wait, who's next? And when? And where?"

"Lily. Brickers Lane. April 12th, 10 p.m."

* * *

Sirius walked home from the meet-up with Remus and thought considerably about Ella. James and Lily and now Remus all told him he should apologise. Maybe they were right, maybe Ella was right. Maybe he had been rash and inconsiderate leaving Ella in the baby shop that day but what kind of person would he have been if he let her go to the disaster that was Burlington Arcade that day?

He tried to figure out what he should say and how he should say it because he was sick of Ella ignoring him and he was sick of sleeping on the couch.

"So I was told that I should apologise."

"Told?" Ella raised a brow, unimpressed. "Sirius, you aren't a fucking child, you shouldn't have to be _told_ to apologise!"

"Would you just let me finish before jumping down my god damn throat? You sound like a fucking mandrake." Before she could open her mouth again, Sirius plowed on. "I'm sorry that I left you in a baby shop without your wand but I did it to protect you and the baby."

"So why do I have to stay behind and you get to go? I'm not the only one about to become a parent!"

"Oh, I don't know maybe because I don't have a little human inside of me? You know, just a thought."

"Okay so after it's born you would be okay if I just passed it over to you and said 'okay just going to abandon you in the middle of London so I can go fight Death Eaters'?"

"Don't be ridiculous, we'd get a nanny."

Ella shook her head in disbelief. "What if I don't want my child to be raised by a nanny?"

"Well, one of us has to stay with it if there's a mission or a fight and it won't be me."

"And why not?"

"Because you're — !" He shook his head and turned. "This is stupid! Why can't you just accept my apology? Why do we have to talk about the future?"

"Because, Sirius, we need to have a plan! We need to be on the same page about these things! So tell me what you think! Because I'm what?"

"Because you'll be better at being a parent than I will! If one of us has to risk their lives, it should be me because I'm just a fuck-up! I couldn't do the — the single-dad thing, I just, you know how scared I am of becoming a dad. I couldn't do it without you."

She stared at him for a moment and he wouldn't have been surprised if she kicked him out but instead she said, "Merlin, your parents fucked you up so badly." She walked up to him and hugged him tightly before leaning back and cupping his face. "I know that this is scary, Sirius but our kid deserves to have both of us, yeah? And," she breathed in deeply and screwed up her face, "as much as _I_ didn't like being left behind, what you did that day — well, it was right. You were … a good dad that day so, so maybe you're selling yourself a bit short, yeah?"

Oh. "Do you really think we can do this?" Sirius asked quietly.

"We can only do our best and hope it's all up-hill from then."

* * *

 _Hope you enjoy xxx_

 _I think an update within 11 days is like a record for this story ... I probably wouldn't get used to it my life is about as organised as a tornado_

 _don't forget to review, even if it is to only complain that I don't update often. Reviews make me want to make my life less of a tornado_

 _-Natalie_


	39. Chapter 38: Love You Most

The ballroom glowed in the quiet light of the moon and the stars reflecting on its gleaming surfaces. They lay in the middle of the room, staring up at the glass dome because tomorrow everyone would know but this moment was just for them.

"Did you ever come in here when you were little?" Lily murmured.

"When we first moved here, I was terrified of this room. It was so big and I was so small. I was never tempted to sneak here until I went to Hogwarts then big rooms didn't really scare me so much."

"This was slim pickings compared to Hogwarts."

"Exactly. What about Miss Lily Evans? Did she go sneaking off in the middle of the night?"

Lily snorted. "Only to the kitchen to steal the good chocolate but Petunia's a light sleeper so she caught me sixty-four percent of the time."

"That's a very specific number."

"I'm a very specific person," Lily countered. "Like five."

"Hmm? Five what?"

"One day, I'd like to have five kids."

James turned his head to look at her, his brow raised. "You want to push five little humans out of you?"

"Well, I do admit that I'm not looking forward to that particular part but I want five."

"Why five? Apart from the obvious reason that a family of seven makes a Quidditch team."

"I suck at Quidditch."

He kissed her nose, "The kids will obviously inherit my talent and pick up your slack. Besides, don't sell yourself short. You helped me get back into shape." He nudged her with his nose again and she caught his lips in her own. "Why five?" he repeated softly.

"Just, I want our kids to have family, you know? I mean I had Petunia but that's," she shook her head, "but I always wondered if I'd had another sibling or two, would things have been different? I might've had a sibling that actually liked me." _A sibling that would've RSVPed to our engagement party_. "And I've always liked the idea of a busy house, kids running everywhere, big family dinners, big christmases. Our bed, filled with our hyper kids as we read the Daily Prophet and they fight over the comic section."

"I hope they are like you," James whispered, gently brushing aside her new bangs.

Lily booped his nose, "We need you in the mix, too."

"With five I'm sure there's plenty to go around. Two like you, two like me and one with a bit of both."

Lily laughed and hid her face in his neck, breathing in his peppermint and sage scent and finding home in it. "That's not how it works, silly." She savoured moments like this so much she could scarcely breathe. It was past midnight and though James' parents lay upstairs sleeping, it was like they were the only two in the world and they didn't have to worry about being interrupted. It was one of the things Lily was excited most about getting an apartment with James.

He pulled her closer, snaking his arm around her waist so she was half lying across his torso. "Well, it should." He smiled down at her sweetly and Merlin she wanted to stay in this moment forever. "Lily?"

"Yes, my love?"

"I can't wait to marry you."

"I can't wait to marry you, more."

"I can't wait to marry you, most."

* * *

Sirius, Peter and James walked the halls of Hogwarts without Remus. They had been for a while now but James could never get used to it especially knowing that Remus wasn't even in Hogwarts. He kept thinking that Remus would pop out from the next corner and say, "thanks for the invite, lads." That definitely wasn't happening anytime soon but he did hope that Remus got his owl to come to the party tonight.

Months of patrolling Hogwarts had proven futile. No attacks had befallen the castle and James hoped it stayed that way. James was perfectly happy to patrol a quiet castle on a Saturday morning.

"So what's this party at Seaside for anyways?" Sirius asked, as they climbed a stairwell. "It's not like your parents to just throw a party."

"It's for dad. Mum's driving him up the wall trying to cheer him up." James honestly didn't know when he'd gotten so good at lying to Sirius but was grateful for it in that moment.

"Is it going to be as fancy as her Christmas parties?"

"Pull out your fanciest robes, boys. Mum's gone all out for this." _So has Lily_ , James thought fondly, remembering Lily and Euphemia in the green house deciding on floral arrangements. "The house elves have been cleaning and cooking all week."

"Secret party upstairs as usual then?" Sirius said.

"Mum'll flay us," James shook his head. "She said that she's invited enough of our friends that 'we shouldn't feel the need to run away to throw our own party'."

"Bummer," Peter sighed.

"Lily coming?" Sirius asked and James looked at him weirdly.

"She lives there so obviously."

"So she's only coming because she lives there," Sirius pressed.

"Why're you being weird? Of course, Lily's coming! She's my girlfriend."

"Just wondering."

"Right. Ella and her brother are coming, yeah?" Sirius nodded and James continued, "I just want to warn you that I don't know who mum's inviting from the grown ups but there's a chance that she might invite her parents. I don't know what went down last year and neither does Lily but we've figured that Ella's not on good terms with them so just give her a heads up, yeah?"

"Will do. Should I avoid coming early? Will Mia make me do things?"

"Probably," James said.

"Okay then, so Ella and I are rocking up late and I expect an extra heads up if Mr and Mrs Dearborn rock up."

"You have to arrive on time. Both of you," James said sternly.

"Since when do you care about punctuality?" Peter asked.

"I don't but this is important for mum."

"Thirty minutes late?" Sirius tried.

"Padfoot."

"Fine, fine … ten minutes."

Peter checked his watch. "That's our patrol done for the morning. Oh, and there's Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick." McGonagall nodded at them curtly, their cue to leave before the students started coming out and about.

The boys headed for the Entrance Hall, using all their shortcuts so it took half the time, and were outside the front gates within ten minutes.

"Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks?" Peter suggested.

When James got home at around midday, it was to be thrown straight into party prepping. He helped set up flower arrangements in the ballroom — truley magnificent arrangements with sunflowers, red roses and white orchids — and Lily fussed and, "A little to the left — no, too much … and perfect," for each arrangement and James thought it significant to point out that there were twelve arrangements.

They assisted the house elves in polishing the glass and silver and watched the elves do their magic as they magically set up 16 round tables all at once. The plates flew into position, the cutlery — Euphemia's finest silver — following not far behind. Napkins folded themselves mid air and slid underneath the cutlery. Glass goblets and champagne flutes danced their way onto the tables and Lily smiled in amazement.

"I'll never be bored of this!" she declared as she dodged flying plates and goblets, as she went around placing candles and smaller flower arrangements in the centre of the tables. James watched her with a wide grin, just glad that she was so happy after everything they'd been through this year alone.

When the house elves and Euphemia left them alone in the ballroom — Euphemia to get ready, the house elves to cook — Lily turned to James, "Promise me the wedding will be smaller."

"It's not me you need to convince," James told her. "You know I'd marry you in a heart beat. I don't need all of this."

Lily looked around at the extravagance of it all and James wondered if she liked it. She never did like huge parties but he was assured a moment later when she replied, "It has been fun and at least this isn't just for me."

James snuck his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side with a proud smile. "It's for us." She leaned up on her tip toes to kiss him sweetly.

"Best we go get ready. Can't be late for our own party."

* * *

Haley stared into the mirror shaking her head. "Are you sure this isn't too much?" She was in mint robes made from chiffon that flowed around her elegantly. The robes stopped at her calf in an asymmetrical hemline to show off the strappy stilettos that Lily had also sent her with a kind note that read, ' _I hope you like the dress and shoes! I won't be offended if you change the colour of the dress_.'

"That's the dress Lily sent for you. James' mum typically goes all out for parties so I'm sure it's perfect."

"Merlin, who're you friends with? The bloody Queen of England?"

Remus laughed and said, "Come on, before we're late."

They apparated to Seaside Estate and Haley was completely overwhelmed by their intimate welcoming party.

"Remus!" James shouted, grinning and before she knew it, Haley had lost her date as a tall, lean man with black hair hugged Remus almost violently. "How have you been? Furry problem going okay?"

"Everything is fine, James."

"Moony, you've missed absolutely nothing. Those two are a right bore without you," a chubbier man said, also engulfing Remus in a hug, knocking James out of the way.

"We're more interesting than you, Wormtail," said a man with a sharply elegant face and on the arm of a girl with mousey brown hair and supporting a small baby bump. Haley assumed that was Sirius. "Remus, good to see you again, mate." Sirius also engulfed Remus in a hug and Haley smiled softly at the scene as a girl in red hair also came up to hug Remus.

"I'm so glad you were able to make it," the girl said.

"Me too, Lily." Lily looked positively radiant in Haley's opinion. The gold robes did wonders for her, the satin clinging to her perfectly and pinched in at the waist with a matching satin rope. Her hair had been elegantly styled in a low bun and a fringe, that was relatively new if Remus' exclamations were anything to go by, dusted the top of her green eyes perfectly. Remus turned back to look at Haley. "This is my good friend, Haley." Haley smiled at the introduction hoping one day it would be something more. "Haley, this is Lily."

Haley grinned and stepped forward to shake Lily's hand, about to thank her for her dress and shoes, when suddenly a cold chill went through her body. She vaguely thought 'oh no' as she realised what was about to happen before the words toppled out of her mouth. " _She is one of the four … the doe protecting her fawn …_ " Lily released Haley's hand and just as suddenly the chill was gone but the vision of this woman running out of a house, holding a small toddler with a terrified expression on her face remained in her mind along with the rest of the prophecy, ringing in her head. It took all Haley had not to blurt the rest out.

Haley saw the puzzled look on Lily's face and Haley blushed. "I'm so sorry, sometimes I get these silly premonitions. I have no clue what they mean half the time," Haley lied easily.

"You're a seer?" Lily asked surprised. "Remus never mentioned but how interesting!"

Haley shrugged. "It's a bit of a curse seeing things and not having a clue what they mean."

"You never told me you were a seer," Remus mused.

"It doesn't happen that often," Haley shrugged. "Now, are you going to introduce me to the rest of your friends or what?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Lily declared before pulling James over who brought the attention of the others with him. "Boys, Ella, this is Remus' _good friend,_ Haley. Haley, this is James, that's Sirius and Ella, and last but not least, Peter."

"Pleasure to meet you all," Haley smiled. "I've heard so much about all of you."

"That's interesting, I've heard nothing about you," Sirius said almost coldly.

Lily rolled her eyes at Haley, "Nevermind Sirius, he hates being out of the loop." She turned to Sirius and mouthed, 'behave' at him to which he rolled his eyes and said to Haley, "So you're American then?"

"Born and raised in New York City."

It wasn't until after the party had officially started and they were seated at a table with a few other of Remus' friends, two other couples and another girl, that Haley had time to reflect on her premonition. _One of the four … the doe protecting her fawn._ That had to mean that Lily was the doe from her previous vision which meant, Haley's stomach did a flip as she realised that Lily was destined to be one of four who had the power to beat Voldemort. So if Lily was the doe, it was quite possible that people Haley met in this very room would complete the four. _Wolf, dog, stag and doe_. Wolf. Remus? But she never had a premonition when she met him but that didn't mean anything, it could just mean that Lily was more connected, more central to the eventual event. _Wolf, dog, stag and doe._ Wolf had to be Remus, unless they knew many other werewolves which Haley highly doubted. That just left the dog and the stag. The stag could be James. Haley looked over to a table where Lily and James stood talking to some guests. The doe and her stag. The stag and the doe. Lily had been holding a child, _the fawn_.

"You okay?" Remus interrupted her thoughts.

She smiled. "I'm fine." She'd really fallen right where she needed to land.

* * *

Lily felt the nerves crawl all over her skin like a thousand ants. The ring — her ring — had been tucked away in James' robe pocket and he slid it on her finger discreetly and kissed her knuckles. The time was here and she felt glad that she could finally wear it, show it, be proud and happy for it.

James stood up, champagne glass in hand and after tapping it a few times, the room fell silent and Lily could hear her own heart beating in her head.

"A lot of you tonight have been wondering why my parents have decided to throw a most extravagant and impromptu party and I'm about to tell you why. In first year, I met a girl who hated me, positively could not stand me so, of course, in fifth year I fancied her something awful and asked her out. She told me where to stick it, telling me she'd rather go out with the Giant Squid and so I let it rest even though I still fancied her something awful all through sixth year. Seventh year, she metaphorically saved my neck and I quite literally saved hers—" Lily nudged him at that, fiddling with the diamond choker Euphemia had lent her but James only smiled at her sweetly before continuing "—She fell for my charming ways and neither of us have really looked back since."

Lily turned to look at the table her friends were sitting at — the only people in the room she considered family other than James and his parents — and all of them, even Sirius, seemed to be on the edge of their seat. Sirius eventually shouting, "Get on with it, Prongs!"

The crowd chuckled heartily and when it died down James asked Lily to stand with him. She hid her hand behind her back so she wouldn't ruin the announcement for those closest to them and her stomach filled with the prettiest butterflies as James started talking again.

"It is my great delight to announce that this pretty lady," he kissed her cheek as she laughed, "has agreed to marry me!"

"I thought I'd do him the favour," Lily quipped and the crowd clapped, laughed and cheered. She brought her hand out from behind her back and rested it on James' chest, as he pulled her closer, his hand on her waist.

"You okay?" he asked her with a soft smile.

"The happiest." She leaned up to kiss him — the gap incredibly less now that she was wearing four inch heels — and the crowd clapped and cheered louder. Lily tossed her head back in a laugh as she heard Sirius wolf-whistle at them.

Eventually, the noise died down again and James and Lily raised their glasses, everyone following suite. "To my beautiful bride to be."

Lily grinned. "To my handsome husband to be." They tinked their glasses together and drank and so did everyone else.

* * *

Remus sat with Peter and James, Sirius was suspiciously missing and Remus hoped he wasn't doing anything foolish. He had been glad to see that Sirius and Ella seemed to be back on track and he'd never seen James or Lily look happier which must've meant Sirius had kept his bizarre theory — that James was cheating on Lily — under wraps.

"How're things really, Remus?" Peter asked quietly.

Remus shrugged. "The wolves don't really know anything. Some are on Voldemort's side. Some are on Dumbledore's. Everyone agrees that the Ministry is a piece of shit."

James laughed at that. "Some are on Dumbledore's?"

"People suspect that Dumbledore has an army and that's who was fighting the Death Eaters at Burlington. Not an impossible conclusion to come to."

"Weird looking at those three and thinking they're in an army," Peter said, nodding his head towards Emmeline and the Prewett twins who were hopelessly dancing to a waltz.

"Weird looking at us and thinking we're in an army," James commented.

"Do you think you'll be down there much longer?" Peter asked Remus.

"I don't know, Pete. I guess I'll be down there until Dumbledore says otherwise." He clapped Peter's shoulder. "Don't worry about me, though, it's not so bad down there."

James smirked and wiggled his brow. "Of course it isn't when you have a hot werewolf seer in your bed."

Remus flushed and shushed him. "It's new. Really new."

"Which I'm guessing is why you only told Lily," James nodded, "but you still brought her."

"I wanted her to meet all of you."

"Well, she's lovely though that seer business is a bit odd, right?" James said.

Remus was at a loss for words. He'd never witnessed her have a premonition before, hadn't even known she was a seer until she'd shook hands with Lily. "It was … strange."

" _One of the four … the doe protecting her fawn_ …" James echoed. "Lily's patronus is a doe."

"Fawn, isn't that a baby deer?" Peter said and Remus and James' shared look of quietness confirmed Peter's thoughts. "So does that mean you're having a kid?"

Remus and Peter stared at James until James rolled his eyes. "Stop looking at me like that. Lily's not pregnant."

"We can add that to the bizarre list of theories I've heard about you and Lily the past two weeks." James shot an inquisitive look his way and Remus elaborated. "Padfoot overheard you two fighting and came to the conclusion that you were cheating on Lily."

James chuckled, "Seriously? I'd be an idiot to cheat on her."

"Were you guys arguing though?" Peter asked.

James shrugged. "Nothing significant. He probably — oh, I know what he overheard! The day of the memorial, when Lily and I got home we were arguing about houses and Sirius was downstairs."

"Houses?"

"Yes, well I wanted to put a deposit on Bertha, she's a beautiful townhouse in Kensington but Lily disagreed."

"You named a house 'Bertha' and refer to it as 'she'?" Remus asked, judgement lacing his voice. "Wait, no of course you did. No wonder Sirius thought you were cheating."

"You and Lily are getting your own place?"

"Once we can settle on a place, yeah."

Remus smiled. "To think after the days you spent _pining_ after that girl and now you're engaged and moving in."

"I literally could not get any luckier," James agreed.

* * *

After a dizzying amount of hugs, kisses and congratulations, Lily found herself sitting at the top of the stairs, over watching the ballroom, with none other than Sirius.

"Show us the shiner then," Sirius said and Lily held her hand out, he grabbed it and brought it right up to his eyes, inspecting it. He whistled and said, "Gorgeous, like you."

"Oh my, flattery. Either you did something terrible or you're really happy tonight."

"I'm just really glad James has you," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen him as happy as he is with you."

Lily was speechless for a moment. "I'm glad we found each other."

Sirius snorted. "Like it was hard! You practically lived together for six years! All you had to do was pull your heads out of your arses a little earlier."

"And the moment's gone."

"I make the moment, Evans."

"It won't be Evans for much longer."

"You'll always be Evans to me. You know, maybe I should give the baby your last name."

Lily raised a brow at the sudden and bizarre tangent this conversation had taken. "Er, why?"

"Or any muggle last name. You know, something common so it won't turn out a pretentious bastard."

"Either way it's going to be a bastard. If you pass on the Black name, maybe this will be the start for redemption."

"Redemption?"

"For all the shitty things you despise about your family. You and your child, you can change what the Black name means."

"What like throw out 'toujours pur' and replace it with 'we're not complete assholes'?"

Lily bit back a smile. "Something like that, yeah."

"It's not a bad idea, Evans."

"Just something to take into account before you go naming your kid something common. Besides, any child of yours is going to be pretentious."

"Are you calling me pretentious?"

"Only a little bit."

"Curse through the heart."

"Maybe some of your pretentiousness will leak out of the exit wound."

Sirius pretended to be offended and Lily rolled her eyes as James came bounding up the stairs.

"Hello, my love," he grinned. "Why are we hiding up here?"

"Hi," she grinned back. "Just getting a breath of fresh air."

James sat on the step in front of Lily and in between her legs, angling his head so he could see her face. "Hi," he said again and Lily caressed his face gently, pushing his locks away from his eyes, loving how carefree and happy he looked in that moment.

"Oh, he's a goner," Sirius interrupted. "Absolutely trashed."

"Shut up, Moons—whoops, Pads," he laughed.

Lily shoved the water she had placed next to her into his hand and said, "Here. I don't want my fiancé throwing up in the flowers." She watched as James sipped at the water and she caressed his face gently. "You okay, love?"

"Spectacular."

She grinned, bending down to kiss his lips as everything else dropped away.

"And that's my cue to go," Sirius muttered.

* * *

Ella seethed secretly all through the announcement and all through dinner. Her parents sat merely two tables away talking with Mr Vance and a couple in their thirties that Ella knew to be Potters. She hadn't spoken to her parents since that disastrous Christmas in seventh year and it wasn't like she hadn't thought about owling them to tell them that she was pregnant, she just didn't know if she had wanted to open that door.

Sirius had gotten tight jawed every time he laid his eyes on her dad — not that she could blame him — and Ella really didn't want to cause a scene. This was James and Lily's night after all so Ella had decided against approaching her parents, unfortunately her mother hadn't gotten the memo.

"Hello, Ella," her mother greeted.

"Mum."

"You look good. You're, uh, you're pregnant," she stated, eyeing Ella's small belly. Ella placed a hand on the bump.

"Yes."

"But you're so young and — and who's the father?"

Ella rolled her eyes at her mother. "Seriously, that's all you care about after not seeing me for over a year?"

"I — Ella-!"

"Just leave me alone."

Ella turned to walk away and walked straight into her father.

He poked her belly. "Eating a few too many treacle tarts, eh?"

Before Ella could respond, her father got shoved away and Sirius stepped between them. "She's pregnant, you idiot and I'll thank you not to _poke_ my baby."

" _Your_ baby?" Mrs Dearborn gasped. "He's the father?"

"I am," Sirius confirmed.

"But — he's a _Black_ , Ella! That whole family is no good! Good Merlin, what have you gotten yourself into!"

"He's not like his family, mother," Ella said firmly. "He's a good man. Better than the two of you combined."

"Ella, this is serious! We need to have a proper discussion about-"

"Oh, so now you care? Where the hell were you when dad was hitting me every day? You certainly didn't care about me then, so don't pretend to care about me now. Come on, Sirius." She looped her arm in his and led him away, shaking all over.

Sirius wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her comfortingly. "Come on," he murmured, leading her out of the ballroom.

"Where are we going?" she asked, "The party-"

"Will still be there in five minutes." Sirius showed her through a door, a narrow corridor and then another door and they were in the library. "You okay?" he asked as he closed the door they'd just come through.

"I know you warned me about them maybe being here but I just," she sighed, turning to him hopelessly.

He rubbed her arms, trying to reassure her that she was fine. "It was definitely better than any encounter I've had with my parents since the end of fifth year."

Ella snorted at that. "My dad called me fat."

"He's an alcoholic wanker. You're perfect. My two favourite people all wrapped up in one."

"I didn't realise I was giving birth to James."

"Please, James far surpasses favourite person," Sirius said. "I don't think I could live without him."

"You two have such an unusual friendship," she mused. "I can't believe they're engaged."

"I can't believe they hid it from us for two weeks!"

"They definitely know how to make a splash. That party is ridiculous!"

"I'm sure Mia went all out for them. Mia always did love a party." Sirius kissed her suddenly, and Ella sunk into the kiss as Sirius' hands rested on her belly. He kissed her until her parents were the farthest thing from her mind and then he pulled back and said, "We should go back."

* * *

Marlene and Adaline sat at their table, watching James and Lily laugh affectionately with each other as Lily tried to coerce James into drinking something that wasn't alcoholic.

"It's so strange to think that one of our friends is married, another having a baby and another engaged," Adaline mused.

"They look so happy," Marlene smiled, gesturing to Lily and James.

"Only a matter of time before she gets knocked up, I reckon. Or maybe you and Nate will beat them to it."

"Della!" Marlene exclaimed, thoroughly scandalised. "No way. Nate and I are happy to take it slow — and it's not even slow, it's just the normal pace."

"So you wouldn't move in together at least?"

Marlene shrugged, "We might reconsider when I finish my healer training and have a proper job but that won't be for a while. Another two years."

"I don't know how the two of you manage to get time alone let alone shag with both your families around constantly. I'd go insane."

"It's part of the fun, Del," Marlene winked as Lily approached the table in search of water.

"My idiot fiancé vanished the water jug," she groaned and the two girls laughed.

"Come sit with us a minute, Lil," Marlene said, patting the seat next to her. "We haven't spoken to you properly the entire party and I want to see the ring and hear all the details."

"Oh," Lily said worriedly, looking back to James. "He really needs some water."

"Come on, he's talking with the Lovegoods, I have to say Lily, Alexina is an odd woman and her husband is even odder."

Lily dropped into the seat next to Marlene. "You met?"

"Briefly, she was very excited about something, couldn't wait to tell you," Marlene told Lily. "But I don't want to talk about your work, I want to hear the important things like _how he proposed_!"

Lily laughed and bit her lip. "He, well, he proposed at Burlington Arcade after the battle."

"Oh, you mean after you two practically had Voldemort running away with his tail between his legs, his Death Eaters with him?"

"Della, shhh!" Lily insisted, looking around to make sure no one had overheard. "But yes."

"Kinda hot," Adaline said.

"Kinda romantic."

"Strangely it was," Lily sighed fondly, remembering the moment. "He had the ring on him and said that he'd been planning to propose for months but things kept getting in the way and then," Lily stopped, smiling to herself.

"And then…?" Marlene prompted.

"Nothing, he just said the sweetest things and despite the battle I was so happy." Lily looked down at her ring. "I still can't believe that we're going to get married."

"Any ETAs on that?" Adaline asked.

"As soon as possible," Lily said with a secretive smirk on her face. "We're thinking July."

"Jesus, Lily! That's only three months away!"

"I know but we just don't see the point in waiting. Especially with all the shit going on around us. It just … I don't know, it just feels right marrying James. I know it's what I'm meant to do and I just," Lily shrugged, "I love him so much that I want it to be official."

"You guys aren't going to be one of those couples that live with his parents, are you?" Adaline wrinkled her nose.

"No, no, this was always just temporary. James is just a little traditional. He wanted us to be engaged before we moved in on our own but now that we are, we've been looking. We're seeing a few apartments in London on Monday."

Marlene nudged Lily, "I don't think he'll make it to Monday."

Lily looked up and groaned at seeing James, goaded on by Peter, sculling a bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey. She got up, taking the entire pitcher of water from the girls' table, "Wish me luck."

"Here," Marlene shoved a small vial in her pocket, "Sobering potion. Slip three drops in a cup of water, it won't get him completely sober but it'll get him through the night."

"You're a life saver!" Lily thanked Marlene before summoning the bottle of firewhiskey out of James' hands, he looked over at her completely affronted and Lily shouted, "I think you've had enough of that."

"Lily, I was beating a record!"

"You can beat the record for how many cups of water you can drink in a row."

Adaline and Marlene laughed freely as James pouted at Lily. "They'll never be a boring married couple, at least."

Adaline's eyes narrowed at something just over James and Lily's shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Marlene asked her.

"I could've sworn I just saw Snape."

* * *

Three cups of water — one laced with Marlene's sobering potion — seemed to have James resembling something close to sobriety and he had no qualms about dragging Lily around to reacquaint her with his family. Lily smiled amusedly at James' ability to hold his liquor as he waved down Tilly and Jack Potter.

"You remember, my cousins Tilly and Jack?" James asked.

"From the Christmas party two years ago! Yes, of course." They'd been the friendlier batch of James' many cousins. "It's so lovely to see you again!"

"And you!" Jack said. "We're simply thrilled that you're going to become an official part of the family. Especially after we heard you threw a drink on snobby, Isabella Greenglass!"

Lily flushed in embarrassment. "Oh, you heard about that?"

"It's in our list of top ten favourite stories," Tilly assured her and Lily risked a laugh because honestly, it was in her list of top ten stories too.

"In my defence, she deserved it."

"People like that always do," James agreed.

"Well, you certainly have our little James wrapped around your finger," Jack grinned. "I remember a time when James here was thick-as-thieves with Isabella."

"Must you remind me of terrible life choices, Jack?"

"Oh, honey, as your older cousins that is exactly our job," Tilly informed. "Like, when I met James, he was terrified of 'girl cooties' and hid under the table for three hours."

"Oh lord," Lily said trying to stifle a laugh.

"I was _seven_!" James defended as laughter bubbled out of her mouth.

"Lily, dear, we simply must have lunch some time!" Tilly enthused, grabbing Lily's hand. "I have so many stories to tell you about our dear, James. Jack and I used to babysit him all the time when he was too little to go to fancy events."

"I partly blame them for my trouble making ways," James shook his head. "Do you remember that time when you turned the main staircase into a slide?"

"Oh Merlin, and we charmed water and soap jets!"

Tilly laughed, "I don't think I have ever seen Auntie Mia look so distressed in her life. She walked in and her jaw dropped!"

"The entire foyer was knee deep in soap suds and we were all in our swimmers splashing about," James told Lily.

"My, my no wonder Mia has a flair for the dramatics."

"That doesn't even chip the iceberg," Tilly told her.

"Well, then it's settled! Lunch is a must," Lily declared. The women quickly made arrangements to meet for a lunch at the Ministry the following Wednesday and just as they'd decided none other than Isabella Greenglass joined their conversation.

"Congratulations on the engagement," she said and Lily almost snorted.

"Thank you," Lily replied instead.

"Though I do wonder what a Mulciber and a Snape are doing here. Strange guests for the engagement of a mud — whoops, _muggle-born_ to a pureblood."

Lily's blood boiled at the mention of Mulciber and Snape so much so that she couldn't care less about snotty Isabella Greenglass's low comment about Lily being a mudblood. She had invited the entire team from the Charms Development Department but had explicitly pulled Mulciber aside and told him he could disregard his invite. Work the past two weeks, since the battle, had been more than tense between her and Mulciber. She knew he was a Death Eater and he knew she was a Phoenix and both wanted to prevent the other from accomplishing their missions.

"What?" James said, underlaying anger in his voice as he searched the crowd. Lily rested a calming hand on his arm as she too craned her neck to try and spot the unwanted guests.

"Yes, I just saw them leave the ballroom. Dressed in all black that Snape fellow, as though he were attending a funeral."

Lily smiled politely at Isabella, Tilly and Jack, "Thank you all so much for coming and I hope you enjoy your night. Excuse me."

Lily quickly stepped away from the group and headed straight out the doors, searching for the two, probably snooping culprits but found the gallery empty. She quickly walked down the gallery stopping at a portrait of James' great grandfather, Henry Potter. He was sitting in a comfy red chair, drinking a glass of sherry and dressed in a muggle suit.

"Seen a man in all black? He would've just left the ballroom," Lily asked. She'd gotten accustomed to talking to the portraits in the gallery every so often and Henry Potter was by far her favourite.

"Door at the end," he told her. "Seems like trouble, he does."

"Thanks, Henry."

Lily gathered her robes and whisked down the hallway, opening the door that led to another, narrower corridor. She looked left and right and headed left and then right at the next corridor and felt her stomach drop when she saw the door leading to the basement ajar. Fury rose in her as she realised that Snape would've had to perform some complex magic to get past that door.

She pulled her wand out and followed down the spiral staircase as quickly as she could in heels, ignoring the feeling that she was going to fall head first and tumble the rest of the way down. As she stepped off the bottom step she called out his name.

"Snape!" Lily shouted angrily. "What the hell are you doing down here?"

Snape turned away from the door to the cellar — the wrong door, thankfully, because she was sure he was trying to find Fleamont's potion lab — and faced her.

"Shouldn't you be up there enjoying your fancy party with _him_?"

"Why the fuck are you here, Snape? I made it perfectly clear the last time that I never wanted to see you again and you show up to my _engagement party_."

"I didn't know it was an engagement party," he sneered. "I see he's really got you under his spell, hasn't he?"

"Stop insinuating whatever the hell you're trying to insinuate and tell me what you're doing here because you sure as hell didn't come to enjoy the food."

"I noticed the drinks were laced with a little something extra."

"Not an easy potion to make but worth it if it stops Voldemort's plans."

"You should've left when I told you to."

"Lils! Are you down here?" James shouted from the top of the stairs.

"Ah, of course, hero Potter come to save the day," Snape said sarcastically, as James' footsteps could be heard racing down the stairwell.

"Shove it, Snape. He's worth a thousand of you," Lily said, so much bitterness in her voice that his expression darkened and softened all at once.

"I didn't tell the Dark Lord where you live. You have to believe me."

"I don't have to believe anything you say to me."

"You trusted me once."

"My mistake," Lily said coolly as James reached her at the foot of the stairs.

" _Snape_ ," he said darkly, his wand out as he stood next to Lily. "What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

"I'm the plus one of a friend, Francis Mulciber."

 _Crap_. Lily had forgotten he was here as well, so caught up with her ex-best friend and anxiety gripped her. He could've found James' room by now and the attic. Merlin, if he found the attic he'd find a lot of Lily's work on the Alexina's charm — work she hadn't turned in for fear it would speed up the progress of completing the charm — and the mysterious journal that they still couldn't figure out. _Crap, crap, crap!_

"Mulciber is as unwelcome as a pile of dung," James bit scathingly, "As are you. Now, what the hell are you doing in my house and in the basement of all places?"

"I'm merely lost in search of the bathroom. Such luxury you grew up with, Potter. A house large enough to get lost in, no wonder you were always such an _arrogant toerag_."

Suddenly, a flash of light escaped from Snape's wand, hitting James square in the chest and Lily gasped as James grabbed her arm tightly. James doubled over, gasping for air as he clutched at his chest with his other hand.

"James!" Lily knelt beside him, resting her hands on his shoulders to stop him from collapsing. "What the hell did you do to him!" Lily shouted but Snape knocked them both aside and fled upstairs.

It took all Lily's strength to stop James from falling and by the end she had to settle for gently setting him on the floor.

"Lil," he gasped, his head in her lap, "Lily — go — af'er him."

"Shut up, I'm not leaving you! _Finite_ ," she waved her wand over his chest and sighed in relief when he stopped grasping. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Fine," he breathed heavily, still catching his breath and scrambling to get up. "Gotta find them before they do whatever they came here to do."

"He knew about the basement, do you think he knows about the attic? We keep a lot of _Order_ related things up there."

"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and leading her towards the wall that concealed Fleamont's lab.

"James, we should go after them! He didn't get in to the lab."

"I know, just come on!" he insisted, pulling Lily after him as he ran across the lab. Lily peaked into the bubbling cauldrons that were simmering — more antidote potion, Marlene was due to pick up another batch for St Mungo's at the end of the party — and was satisfied that everything looked normal before James stopped in front of three shelves that held various potions books. He tapped the first shelf twice, then the third once and then the second three times and Lily gasped when a door appeared in the wall next to it. James opened the door and shoved Lily through. "Go!" he instructed and Lily gathered her dress again, grateful when James grabbed the back part, and raced up the steep stairs. They reached the end and James tapped his wand to the low ceiling they were crouching under. A trap door opened and James climbed out onto the landing of the stairs that led to the second floor. He helped Lily out after him before sealing the trap door again and as Lily went to step down to head to the first floor where James' room and the entrance to the attic was, James yanked her back and pulled her up the stairs instead.

"What? Where are we going?"

"Come on!" he insisted. Trusting James knew where he was going, Lily followed figuring she would find out soon enough. They reached the second floor and didn't stop for a second. James yanked Lily through the corridors and led her to an unused bedroom filled with a bunch of junk. He let go of Lily's hand and was muttering about how much his mother hoarded as he pushed away a stack of trunks. James knocked on the wall in a certain rhythm and the wall swung open revealing the attic.

James waved Lily to come to him and they entered the attic to see Mulciber snooping through Lily's desk by the far window but worse was that Alexina Lovegood lay unconscious in the middle of the attic.

Mulciber looked at them calmly and then shrugged, "She wasn't working fast enough for us."


End file.
